


Companions

by Pookie02



Series: All The Things You Are [1]
Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Eye Trauma, F/F, F/M, I've only been working on this series since 2010, anyway buckle up, it's fine, it's the remix edition
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 22:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9292241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookie02/pseuds/Pookie02
Summary: Vignettes featuring the Courier's traveling partyThis is the final version of the start of All The Things You Are, a Fallout: New Vegas adaptation.





	1. 14 Karrat Bad Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends old and new! My editor and I have been poking at this final version for quite a while, and while the edits and rewrites are far from done, I figured I'd light a fire under us by starting to post.
> 
> For those of you who have read the original versions, this has a LOT of added content as well as much better writing D:
> 
> The plan for now is to not post until I've got 3-5 chapters ready and then post those chapters one a day until I run out. Normally I will start updates on Fridays, but it's done and one of this burst will land on a Friday, good enough.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Awareness slowly came back, and with it came confusion. The hazy sound of a voice to her left didn't resolve any of her questions as she cracked her eyes open. In fact they only confused her further. But before she could figure out what was going on, pain descended.

Then there were hands on her, gently guiding her to sit up. She didn't want to move at first, especially when a shock of pain coursed down her spine from her head, but stubbornness took over, and she pushed herself to rise. Despite her sudden resolve, the helping hands did most of the work to pull her up.

Her sight began to clear as she blinked, showing her an old man in overalls standing in front of her. She had missed the first few things he'd said, but the man either hadn't noticed or didn't care.

"What's your name?" he asked, focusing on her eyes. She stared at him a long moment, still just trying to figure out what was happening and where she was. And why she was in so much pain. Once the throbbing in her head died down a little, some of her memory seemed to come back.

****

*.*.*

The courier had been fairly careful picking a spot to sleep; so close to the road that someone would see her (and likely rob or kill her), but not so far into the wilderness that some animal would kill her (and maybe rob her). 

The boulder she'd found had been perfect. The girl didn't get her little pillow out of her bag or do anything to make herself more comfortable. That way she wouldn't fall into a deep sleep. Even with her good choice in spots, she was on the ground in the open. In all honesty, the courier didn't want to stop in the unguarded spot. But she'd caught herself nearly asleep on her feet a few times already tonight. That was just as dangerous as taking a nap in the open. Just a fifteen minute snooze to get her head back together

She looked up at the stars for a few moments, her eyes drawn to the huge full moon almost instantly. Its sight put a smile on her face, but she eventually pulled the big straw hat she'd been wearing over her eyes. Sleep came as soon as she settled down.

The courier didn't know how much time passed before something jarred her awake. There were hands, multiple hands, on her. Her eyes snapped open, but she was only able to see a flash of black and white checkers before something hit her over the head and the world went dark again.

****

*.*.*

"Layla," she said, realizing she'd been just staring into space. She looked at the man, who was watching her patiently. "Layla Granville."

"Hm, not the name I would have given you, but I guess it suits you," the man answered. "The name's Mitchell. Doctor Mitchell, but most just call me Doc. You were out for a couple days. I'm surprised to see you awake."

The courier nodded absently, mind still too fuzzy to really get a handle on this situation. The doctor was still looking her over, so she looked down at herself. She was in a pair of sad, faded blue underwear she didn't recognize. That would normally worry her, but with everything else cropping up, she didn't think about it too much for now. She looked back up to see the doctor looking at her, focusing between her eyes and any part she moved.

"Well, no sense in waiting,” he said. “Let's see if you can stand."

Layla nodded, certainly hoping she could. The motion made her a little dizzy, but she readily braced herself on Mitchell's outstretched arms as he helped her up. The move was painful; her head swam and her body ached, but she still managed to get to her feet and stay there.

"Good, that's good. Now, I managed to dig the bullets out of your head." He frowned a bit at the distressed expression that immediately came to Layla's face. "I think I've got you back together okay, but let's do a few tests to see." He turned and pointed to a tall machine on the far wall of the room. "See that Vit-o-Matic? Let's see if you can walk over there."

The courier gave herself a second to get used to standing, then slowly started walking across the room. On her fourth step, she stumbled badly, but Mitchell managed to catch her arm. Deciding to take it a bit slower, Layla carefully made it the rest of the way with no incident. 

Despite her intention to focus on her walk, her mind wandered and she started looking around. The building she was in was unfamiliar, but friendly-looking; homey for a doctor's house/office. Before she knew it, Layla was in front of the Vit-O-Matic. She looked over the device, feeling a grin tug at her mouth.

"Go on and see what it tells you," the doctor said, moving from her side and nodding at the machine.

"Is this your normal diagnosis method?" the girl asked with a giggle, a smile finally showing up on her face. Mitchell let out a chuckle, a grin surfacing on him as well.

"Not quite, but I'm curious to see if you can stand long enough for it to give you a reading."

Layla nodded, noticing that this time it didn't make her so dizzy. She put her hand on the handle and squeezed. The machine made a few pings and dings, then her results displayed. It took a moment of blinking to get her eyes to read the text, but then her vision seemed to clear for good. 

"It called me a doughy baby and a smartypants!" the courier cried, only half joking. The doctor chuckled again.

"I had a fella the other day that it called a 'Creepy Undertaker' and a 'Walking Disaster,'" he said. That got another giggle out of the courier as Mitchell gestured to another doorway. "Let's go sit down and I'm going to ask you a few questions."

Layla was able to move on her own this time, though Doc Mitchell followed her closely as they moved to the next room. The girl slowly lowered herself to a couch. The move was stiff, but not overly painful. Her head throbbed, and she moved her hand up to touch it. Before she even got close, the source of the pain came back to her.

****

*.*.*

The man in the checkered coat was still talking. Layla had been struggling with ropes on her wrists and the pounding in her head to really hear what he'd been saying. Consciousness had come back in time for her to realize she was on the- no, in the ground, in a ditch. 

"From where you're looking, this must look like a 14k strain of bad luck," the man continued. Layla wasn't completely paying attention to him, instead trying to figure out where she was or if there was anyone who could help her while the man in the checkered coat continued. "But to be honest," He pulled a pistol from inside his coat and the courier focused on him again.

"It was rigged from the start."

Layla had been about to say something, anything, but before she could, the gun fired. Then there was agony, another loud noise and more pain. Then nothing.

But she hadn't been out completely; consciousness kept fading in and out as she felt something land on her. Dirt. Dirt was blotting out her vision. They were burying her. She was... Was she dead? Then more darkness.

****

*.*.*

"Still with me?" Mitchell asked, startling Layla. She looked up at him, lowering her hand from the bandages on her head.

"I... I was shot in the head?"

Mitchell's smile faded. He nodded. "I'm a little amazed myself that you're alive, but here you are." He sat down with a grunt next to an old beat up easel. 

"Is there," the girl hesitated while she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, "Damage? Like, permanent damage?"

The doctor's serious expression was still in place as he answered, "I can't tell you for certain yet. Do you remember anything past getting shot?"

Layla frowned and thought. She could remember talking to Mr. Nash about her delivery and him telling her to be careful to avoid the Fiends skulking around South Vegas on her way up. That hadn't been long ago, however. Though concentrating was starting to make her head hurt, she thought about her family back in California. She could remember names and places. Nothing seemed missing, at least as far as she could tell.

"I think I remember everything," she answered. 

Doc Mitchell nodded. "Good. Are you any good with numbers?"

"Uh... Well, I can do the basic stuff," the courier answered. "Some percentages."

"Okay, if was going to charge you fifty caps for your surgery, and you wanted to tip me twenty percent, how much would you give me?"

"Ten caps," Layla answered after a moment, then faltered. "I don't have fifty caps..."

"I know." Mitchell shook his head. "I'm not much for charging people who need help and don't have the money." The old doctor gave her a kind smile, which turned mischievous after a moment. "If you ever strike it rich, you can always send some money back this way."

Layla nodded, though guilt settled like a stone in her gut. She'd been either broke or scraping by since she set out from home, and that had been seven years ago. Unless something drastic happened, she'd probably be lucky to have two caps to rub together anytime soon.

While she'd been stewing in that particularly unpleasant feeling, Mitchell had been setting something up on the stand. Leaning a bit so she could see past him, she found a pattern made of ink blots.

"What does that look like?" he asked, sitting back so she could see better.

Layla stared at the blobs of dark ink for a moment, not really seeing much of anything. "Um... an oozing wound." She stuck her tongue out at her own assessment. 

"All right, how about this?" Mitchell asked after changing the picture to another one. This one was easier to determine. 

"A sea ship."

Mitchell nodded distractedly as he placed another card up. 

"Two bears high-fiving," Layla said. She caught a grin flicker under the doctor's moustache as he sat back in his chair.

"You wouldn't happen to be from the west, would you?" he asked, sounding somewhere between amused and exasperated.

Layla nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Californians always say that with this one," he let out a little chuckle. "Well, Layla, I think you're cleared to leave. Are you ready to?"

She thought about that for a moment. This had been a lot to take in, quite frankly, she was surprised how well she was doing. Eventually, she nodded to the doctor.

"I... I need to tell Mr. Nash, my boss, what happened. And I have to get that delivery back."

Mitchell, gave her a cautious look. "Well, before you go off on any revenge missions, why don't you stay in town for a few days? Just to make sure there aren't any side-effects or something I didn't catch yet."

Layla frowned, but eventually nodded. The doctor's serious expression seemed to lessen. "Good. Come on, I've got your things and some clothes you can wear. Yours were pretty bad by the time Victor got you here."

"Victor?" Layla asked as she got up and started to follow the man out of the room. She didn't know any Victors.

"He's the robot who dug you out of that grave. You owe your life to him," the doctor said as he lead her along. 

"A robot? I was saved by a robot?" Layla said, sounding startled. A smile wormed it's way onto her face, however. That was kind of neat.

"Mhmm. He's friendly enough, assuming you're not the kind to be scared away by his type (repeat)," the old man said as he started going through a set of shelves. While she watched him gather things up, her mind wandered, trying to remember.

****

*.*.*

Light was coming back again. But it was distorted, only in blobs. She heard something. Music? It was hard to think. Breathing hurt. She started coughing, and something came out besides air. Dirt. It was dirt. 

She thought she saw that bright moon again, but it was too hard to focus. More light was visible. She could make out a glowing rectangle with something in it, but then she lost consciousness again.

****

*.*.*

"All right, here are the things of yours Victor and I managed to save," Mitchell said, breaking Layla from her recollections. Her beat up old messenger bag was a little dirty, but in good shape. She took it gratefully; old reliable would still be at her side. The doctor handed her a pile of clothes. "This was my wife's. She was about your size, which is lucky since you're both short."

Layla nodded absently, looking at the old blue jumpsuit. "You were in a Vault?"

"Mhm. Vault 21," he said with a nod. There was a distant look, then he placed something else on the pile of clothes in her arms. "On that note, you can have this. I don't have much need for something like this anymore, but I'm sure a courier could get some use out of it."

Layla looked at the dull gray machine. She'd seen one before. "This is one of those arm computers, right?"

"Pip-Boy 3000," Mitchell confirmed. "It's got maps, and it'll monitor your vitals and tell you if there's any radiation around." He smiled. "It even picks up radio stations."

"I can't take this," Layla said, despite very much wanting to take it. "It's... that's... I don't have anything to give you for it."

"I know," the doctor said, "but I know what it's like to lose something." His tone sounded distantly bitter, and he gave her an unwavering look.

The courier looked at the old man for a long moment, then eventually nodded. "Thank you."

Mitchell's hard look faded into something more pleased. "Go on and change. I'll give you some supplies on the way out. And if you get into any more scrapes, you just come on back. Just try not to get shot in the head again."

****

*.*.*

Layla stepped out of the doctor's house and squinted at the bright Mojave sun. This dusty, raw desert often made her miss her much cooler hometown. She was in a small but winding town, with partially houses and people tending to small gardens. Once her eyes finally adjusted, she saw something rolling down the road her way. 

It was a robot. Maybe Victor? She started toward the machine. "Excuse me!"


	2. Goodsprings Shuffle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Powder Gangers attempt to take over Goodsprings, but didn't count on a recently exhumed courier

Layla was practically itching to head back to Primm as soon as possible. She'd heard rumors about a group of escaped NCR prisoners attacking the little town and was worried about her elderly boss and his wife. The Mojave Express had started to become a new home for Layla, and she didn't want another to disappear.

But she'd also been suffering from some dizzy spells since she'd started looking around Goodsprings. Normally, she'd just wait and give herself enough time to heal, but between worrying about Primm and wanting to find the man who's shot her, the girl was eager to move on. Hopefully she could just stay the night somewhere and head out in the morning.

Then again, Goodsprings did had some very compelling reasons to stick around. One of them was currently sitting across the room from her. Ringo, the caravaneer who'd greeted Layla with a nervous gun to the face when she had walked into the old gas station, was currently giving her a grin instead. She found she liked the man once it became clear they weren't trying to kill each other.

"Back to play Caravan?" he asked. Layla wasn't sure, but she thought she detected a minor waggling of his eyebrows. That spread a smile over her own face.

"No... I still don't have it down."

"I could teach you," the caravaneer said, still smiling. Layla still wasn't sure if he was being flirty or friendly, so she decided to throw him a new angle to feel him out. 

"Actually, I wanted to talk about those Powder Gangers," she said. 

Ringo's easy expression darkened at that. He picked at a bandage on his arm, looking a little annoyed. "There's not much to talk about. Unless the town decides to rally against them, I think I'm stuck here."

"Sunny Smiles wants to run them out of town as much as you do," Layla said thoughtfully, her mind wandering to the woman who'd shown her around town and tried to help her fire a rifle. "Maybe we can convince the others."

The man nodded, but looked somewhat unsure. "You sure you want to do all that? If Joe Cobb gets wind of it, he'll come looking for you."

"Joe Cobb already tried to get me to run you out of town," the courier said, noting Ringo's expression getting even stiffer.

"What did you do?"

"I told him I didn't even know who you are, which I didn't at the time. If I see him again, I'll just tell him the same," She smiled with just a tiny wiggle of her own eyebrows. "I don't want anything bad happening to my Caravan instructor."

Ringo finally smiled again.

****

*.*.*

Easy Pete was giving Layla a very unconvinced look. The courier had been prepared to start up her good-of-the-town spiel, the very same ones that had worked on Trudy and Chet earlier. With their cooperation, she'd have the townspeople to back them up and armor and weapons to go on their backs.

But the very old man before her didn't seem to be buying her angle. She frowned. "Ah come on, they're explosives. You just light them and throw in the general area you want to blow apart."

He shook his head, apparently still unwilling to tell Layla were he'd buried a sizable amount of dynamite. "You're going to blow yourself up. Townsfolk, too."

Layla gave him a pouty frown, but Easy Pete just shook his head again. When the courier continued to pout, he finally let out a sigh. "I’ve got some on hand I’ll use when things get bad, but I'm not giving you any."

"Well," the girl said with a heavy sigh, "I guess that'll have to do." She dropped the pout in favor of a resigned smile. "Thank you."

Easy Pete nodded, "Not much for trouble around home. Powder Gangers are trouble."

"I agree," Layla said. "If there's anyone else in town who can handle explos-"

"Already learned that lesson," the old man grumbled. "Go on, then."

The courier was pretty sure she didn't want the specifics on that. She turned towards Doc Mitchell's and saw a big blue shape rolling down the road. She took off after it.

"Oh! Hey Victor!" she called, waving at the robot when he turned. When the securitron rolled over, Layla suddenly felt a swirl of dizziness. It was a bad one; she didn't even notice how close the robot had gotten until he spoke.

"You okay, miss? You don't look so hot."

"Just... just a little dizzy," Layla answered, shaking her head, which was a mistake. "I'm okay."

"Well, maybe you ought to just go rest a spell." The robot pointed his clawed arm towards the tiny house at the end of the road. "You can take a little nap on the bed at my place, if you'd like. I can keep watch outside and everything."

Layla nearly denied him, then decided against it. She had to admit she'd been pushing herself today. And if she planned to be in any condition to fight off a gang, a nap would help. And if Victor had wanted to hurt her, he'd had plenty of opportunity to do that already. Besides, the tiny shack with the old world flag had made her curious. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Well sure thing," the robot responded, cheerfully. "Come on, then." He held out that clawed arm, which Layla took, and started them back down the road toward his house.

****

*.*.*

Maybe a nap really had been all she'd needed; Layla felt brand new as she walked through town. This was the first time she had felt like herself since waking up in Goodsprings. That brought a smile to her face as she continued along the path on her way to check in with Sunny. Hopefully the woman had been able to teach the couple of townspeople who'd never handled a gun how to defend themselves by now.

"I hear you've been busy," a voice came from behind. Jumping, Layla turned to find Joe Cobb glaring at her.

"Oh! Hello," the courier said, managing to slap a smile on her face. "Just being a busy-body," she answered. The man appeared to be alone, but if he'd figured out what she was up to, she would probably have a real hard time fighting him off.

"I think you're starting to work your nose into trouble," the man said. His hands had curled into fists, and she saw one start for the gun at his hip. "Where's that cara-"

"Is there a problem?" Victor said, starling them both as he rolled up. Cobb looked nervously at the securitron, then managed to put the sneer back on his face.

"No problem," the Powder Ganger said, pointing a dirty look Layla's way. "I was just warning her about how dangerous it is around here." She was about to shoot back a reply, but Victor beat her to it.

"Sure is," the robot said, sounding overly-friendly. "Someone could just shoot you. Boom! Just like that," he said, raising the gatling gun to pantomime a shot at the man. 

That clearly didn't make the Powder Ganger happy. His overly hostile expression faded. "... Yeah," Cobb said. He gave Layla a final sneer, then walked off.

Once he was out of ear-shot, Layla let out a breath, grinning up at the robot. "Thanks Vic. I didn't really know where that was going. Didn't look good, though."

"Don't you worry none about it, miss."

"You showed up just in time, too," the courier continued, tilting her head a bit. "Have you been keeping an eye on me?"

"Well, I kind of feel responsible for you is all," the robot said. "After digging you up, I feel like I should make sure you get around okay."

Layla nodded, though she wasn't completely sure what that would all entail. But it did give her an idea. "We're planning on giving those guys the boot," she said, jerking her head in the direction Cobb had fled. "Do you think you can help?"

"Well sure!" the robot said, sounding delighted. "We'll have them running with their tails between their legs."

The menace that had crept into the robot's tone may have worried her, but Layla was too pleased to have his firepower on their side. "Thanks Vic!"

****

*.*.*

"Well hell, I wasn't expecting things to go this well," Ringo said with a smile. "I think we'll be ready to go."

Layla nodded, pleased herself at the progress she'd made. All that was left was getting the Powder Gangers to come to the town. That couldn't be too hard, though Layla hadn't really thought of anything. 

Thoughts of what to do faded out as she noticed Ringo still smiling her way. Plans could come later. For now, the courier was going to cast another line on the man. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the door to the gas station opened.

"They're here!" Sunny cried. "We need to get down there."

Layla let out a sign, then pulled her old beat up 10mm from its holster. "Lead the way," she sighed. No time for romance.

****

*.*.*

"I owe you my life," said Ringo, wiping sweat and blood from his brow. "We wouldn't have made it without you."

"I'm just glad to help," the courier said, surveying the damage. Between the townspeople, Sunny, Ringo and Layla's shooting and Easy Pete's dynamite, the small group of Powder Gangers were dead, Joe Cobb among their numbers. Remarkably enough, only a few townspeople had received severe wounds in the fight.

"Well, come find me at the Crimson Caravan," the caravaneer said. "I'll be able to repay you properly." A touch of regret clouded his smile. "I'm going to have to head back soon, but for now..." he dug around in a bag on his side, pulling out a holotape. "It's the rules to Caravan. When we meet up again, we can actually play."

Layla took the tape, smiling down at it before looking up at him again. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Ringo said. Layla was fairly certain she saw a wiggle of his eyebrows that time as he turned away. The courier had a hard time keeping the blush from her face.

She'd wanted to go after him, but Layla found herself checking in on Easy Pete and made sure Doc Mitchell was okay with tending to the wounded. As she started for the saloon, a thought suddenly occurred to her: Victor had never shown up.

Confused and a little worried, the courier wound her way up to the little house she'd been staying in with the robot's blessing. She was surprised to find Victor right outside.

"Victor? What happened?" the courier asked, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. "You said you'd help." The robot turned his screen her way, and a frowning cowboy appeared on it.

"Hm? Oh! I... guess I forgot." The robot sounded confused. "That's odd, I've never done that before..." 

Layla frowned. He could be lying, she supposed, but his tone sounded genuine. There were a couple things she could check, so long as the robot didn't mind. "Can I take a look at your processor?"

"Sure... Just don't go monkeying around there."

The courier moved around to the access panel on the robot's back, frowning at the lack of diagnostic implements. She suddenly remembered the Pip-Boy on her arm. Unplugging a few wires from the robot, she fed them into the machine. 

"Okay. Let's see..." Layla chewed her lip as she brought up a diagnosis function she'd found earlier on the little computer. After a moment, the results displayed on the screen. "You got a command, ah, 'Override Command 16 Delta', recently. Does that sound familiar?"

"No... can't say that it does. That's odd," the robot responded, still sounding confused.

"It is," Layla said, replacing the wires where she'd pulled them from and closing the panel. "Who could have done it?"

"Not sure," the robot answered, and Layla got the worrying feeling that the machine wasn't being truthful with her. Before she could ask any more questions, Victor continued.

"Ah well, I'm sorry, Miss Granville. But you look like you managed pretty well on your own!"

"Yeah..." the courier answered. She looked over Goodsprings, amazed she hadn't gotten anyone killed, including herself. "I guess we did."


	3. Jingle Jangle Jingle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter some may remember as the original beginning to the series. It's an important moment for me, because I was won over so hard by the New Vegas trailers
> 
> Anyway, the courier picks up her first companion

"You look like a fucking idiot."

"Fuck you," Gunner sneered, looking into the broken shard of mirror in his hand. That idiot Shank couldn't possibly understand the subtle genius of the lime green mohawk he now sported. He carefully smoothed his hands up the sides again as the gel started to dry.

Shank glowered at the fire a few feet away from his feet. That didn't seem to hold his attention, so he went back to picking at the scab on his arm with a knife. He'd been bored and irritable lately, probably from the lack of people on the road. With a grunt, the raider eventually gave up on the scab and threw his knife into the ground by the fire.

"This is bullshit!"

"What now?" Gunner grumbled, leveling a sour look at his companion. Shank threw his hands in the air.

"I'm fucking bored! There isn't any goddamned thing to do and we ne…" he trailed off as he looked at something floating down the road in their direction. "What the hell is that?"

Gunner looked down the way the other man was staring and cocked his head to the side a little. "Oh, that's one of those radio-robot-things. I've seen 'em before. Used to be Enclave." 

"I bet you a Nuke I can hit it," Shank said, pulling out his rifle.

Gunner snorted, "You're on."

Shank squinted into the sights and squeezed off a round. It knocked into the robot, causing it to swerve wildly off its path. After a moment, it righted itself, though now it was smoking from the new bullet hole.

"Ha ha, no good," Gunner laughed. The robot was close enough for the two raiders to hear its sound system, which sounded wonky as the machine shakily floated along.

"What do you mean, 'no good?' I hit it."

"It isn't down," Gunner explained. "Doesn't count."

"Oh fuck you." Shank shot at the robot again, hitting it a second time. This time the little machine couldn't keep itself in the air and clattered to the road. "Ha! Gimme!"

"Hmph," Gunner begrudgingly started toward his pack for one his last two Nuka-Colas. As he opened the flap on the bag, he heard mechanical sputtering and looked up. The robot had come back online and was floating down the road again, although now it swerved unsteadily.

"Ha HA! No Nuke for you! That little shit's tougher than you, too."

"Fuck you."

****

*.*.*

Javier glowered in the direction of the road he'd been staring at for the last three days. He was getting close to Primm, which meant payment and another job. This particular stretch of road had been deserted to the point of tedium, something he wasn't exactly a stranger to, but for some reason this trip had been mind-numbingly dull and wearing on him.

The traveler sighed. Complaining about it wasn't going to change things. Then he caught sight of a hunk of metal further along the stretch of asphalt. Walking up to it, he found the remains of a robot. One of the radio ones, eyebots, he was pretty sure they were called. Javier whistled, then grunted as he stooped down to inspect the thing. There were a few bullet holes in its hull, and the pool of oil around it looked fairly fresh.

He didn't really have much of a mind for fixing up mechanical things, but it was probably worth something. The man shrugged and picked the thing up, grunting again at its weight. Someone was bound to want it.

****

*.*.*

The door creaked open to the dark entrance of the Mohave Express, and a shadow slowly stalked in. The figure crept around the two-room building carefully, 10mm clutched in her hand. Seemingly satisfied with the lack of people, the figure stood and looked around the room.

She stopped at the counter at the sight of the broken robot strewn upon it. The poor thing looked so sad by itself. Holstering her gun, Layla gave the little machine a cursory poke. When it didn't move, she worked the broken casing off the machine and surveyed the damage. 

Whoever had shot it had been either lucky or very skilled; the wire to the robot's main power source had been severed. There was a bit more damage, but all of it would only require simple repairs, so the girl pulled a few parts out of her pack and started to tinker. 

This probably wasn't the best use of her time; Layla had discovered the town had indeed been overrun by more Powder Gangers. She'd managed to sneak into the Mojave Express, but had to step over the body of one of her now former co-worker. To her relief, the Nash's weren't here. That meant they were probably trapped in the casino next door with the rest of the town.

After a few minutes of twisting connections together and taping spliced lines, she replaced the casing. This breather, though perhaps awkwardly timed, was needed. She'd already shot two people dead since entering Primm, something she was definitely not used to. 

Before she completely covered the machine's parts again, she reached in and reinitiated it, then dove behind the counter, just in case it blew up.

The woman poked her head up past the countertop when she heard whirring and a few beeps and found the eyebot hovering above her. Smiling at her handiwork, Layla stood again.

"Hello there. Caught a bad case of bulletitis, huh? I had a case of that myself recently."

The little machine whistled in a tone that nearly sounded sad. Layla frowned as she reached up to snap its casing back together. It was somewhat odd working on an Enclave robot; most of the time she didn't even like looking at Enclave tech. But the robot was pointing its cameras her way and making sad beeping noises...

"Listen, I've got some trouble I could use an extra gun for. Would you like to come with me?"

The robot chirped, this time sounding happier about it. The courier smiled and held her hand out towards the door.

"Right this way then.”

The robot followed along with a cheery whistle.


	4. Heartaches by the Number

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cass has a talk with a random woman who showed up at the bar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can really tell the old chapters from the new: the old ones are tiny

"...And he had a long fucking dick!" Cass said conversationally to the girl sitting next to her at the bar. The redhead had been about to continue, but the girl snorted so loud at her statement she startled some of the NCR troopers on the other side of the room. They glared, and Cass started laughing.

That set off the girl sitting next to her, and the two were practically cackling for a few long moments. That felt good; Cass had spent the last few days in particular getting angrier and bitchier as time had gone on. The time she'd been trapped at the Mojave Outpost was starting to turn her mean. She tipped the bottle of whiskey she'd bought for the night toward her lips, glancing at the girl next to her as she did.

"Shit," Cass gasped once she'd swallowed. "What the hell happened to your head?" The grin on the other woman's face disappeared as she reached up to fix the bandana she'd wrapped her hair in. Once the nasty still-healing scar just above her forehead was covered, she finally spoke.

"Uh... trouble with some," she grimaced, "guys I met."

Were Cass sober, or at least less-drunk than this, she would have demanded more information. Like who they were and if she wanted to go hunt them down. But the caravaneer was well-aware that she'd probably have trouble walking at this point, a rare level of drunkenness for her. 

So, instead of offering revenge, she tried to cheer the other woman up. At least for now. "Aw, it's not so bad. You should have seen my dad; he'd been shot so many times he lost count."

The scarred girl looked steadily more uncomfortable as the conversation went on, so Cass continued. "He used to say whatever didn't kill you made you stronger, but not prettier!" She let out a loud snort and took another drink.

Now the girl was sadly rubbing her head, looking miserable. Cass slammed her bottle on the bar surface, startling both the girl and the bartender who had just walked by.

"Don't look so sad; you can barely see it," the caravaneer said with a laugh. "Some guys even get off on that kinda stuff." Cass leaned closer to the girl, though her voice's volume didn't change as she continued speaking. "The weird ones anyway."

The girl put her heads in her hands, which made Cass laugh so loud she nearly choked. The redhead stood, throwing some caps on the bar.

"It's on me tonight, kid," she announced for both her and the bartender. The girl looked up at that. Cass had thought to stay still a minute to see if the girl responded, but instead started out of the building to find her bedroll, not sure how long her legs were going to support her.


	5. Black Mountain Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The courier goes to investigate some of the troubling things Black Mountain Radio is broadcasting

Layla blew out a breath, wondering again if this was a good idea. The road to Black Mountain stretched beyond her ominously as dark clouds circled the mountaintop. Occasional peels of thunder echoed all around her, and lightning dotted the sky, like nature itself was confirming that this was a very bad idea.

That almost turned her back, but the thought of leaving that poor guy at the top of the mountain didn’t sit right with her. She hadn’t quite figured out a plan yet, but she was going to save this ‘Raul’ before he got executed by the super mutants broadcasting from the radio station at the top of the road.

Resolve confirmed, Layla started picking her way up the broken pavement. As she walked along, she tried to ignore the buzzing noise behind her. But of course, when she started thinking about it, the noise only got more grating. And worrying, considering they were trying to sneak around. Eventually she glanced back at the eyebot she’d fixed in Primm. It didn’t seem to mind the noise it was making in the least as it bobbed along.

“Um…” Layla didn’t want to be rude. But then again, could she even be rude to a robot? “Can you move a little quieter? Please?”

The eyebot stopped and tilted to the side, as if thinking. A moment later, it started moving again, only this time it floated along closer to the ground. The noise hadn't gotten any quieter, but the robot seemed to think the move made it sneakier. 

The courier couldn’t help laughing. ED-E stopped again as she did. “It’s okay, that’s better,” she giggled. Pulling herself together, she nodded toward the mountain. “We have to be careful. According to the radio, the place is full of super mutants that hate humans… and something called a centaur. Do you know what a centaur is?”

ED-E responded with a series of twills and beeps. Layla squinted at the robot as it continued.

“I can't make out a word," she admitted. “Let’s just try to be quiet and we’ll be fine.” The robot let out what sounded like an annoyed note. Layla turned to start up the mountain again, immediately walking face-first into a super mutant.

The courier let out a shriek and backed up, hands going for her battered old 10mm pistol. The mutant held up his hands as Layla knocked into ED-E.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” the towering yellowish-green mutant said, stopping the courier in her tracks.

“You… aren’t?”

“I’m not, but you should go. It’s not safe, especially for your kind,” the mutant continued, glancing over his shoulder like he expected someone to appear. 

“I can’t leave yet,” Layla blurted out. “I’m looking for Raul.”

“The mechanic Tabitha captured?” The mutant looked back up at the mountain for a moment. The corners of his mouth twitched, then turned down as he looked back at Layla. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to get to him.”

That was the conclusion Layla had reached a few times already today. “Maybe you could help,” she spoke up, figuring it was worth a try. “You’re Neil, aren’t you? The one Tabitha mentioned on her show.”

“I am,” he answered. “But I don’t know what assistance I can give you. The super mutants here aren’t going to listen to reason.”

The courier sighed, again wondering if she should just turn back. But she hated the idea of leaving someone trapped. She looked back up at Neil.

“Listen, I’ll take any help I can get. I’m not going to give up.”

The super mutant was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “I might be able to do something to help, but I can’t do it all for you. If you can get up to the gate of the radio tower, I’ll have thought of a plan.”

“Okay,” Layla answered. “We’ll see you up there.”

The mutant gave her an evaluating look, then nodded and took off in a loping gait up the road.

The courier looked back to her robot companion and nodded, and they began slowly sneaking up the road. It wasn’t long before they found a checkpoint; three heavily armed super mutants milled around a section of the road that was otherwise fenced off.

Layla stared at them from behind a pile of debris, wondering what to do. When she hadn’t moved for a few minutes, the eyebot nudged her shoulder from behind. 

“All right,” she said, looking back at the little robot. Her eyes squinted as she got an idea. “Can you go make a distraction so I can run by?”

The eyebot whistled cheerily and zoomed toward the checkpoint before Layla could say anything further. She watched as it darted over to the group of guards, bobbing and whistling to get their attention. Two of the mutants took swings at it, which it easily dodged before darting away down the road. All three of the super mutants chased after it, hollering as they went.

Layla wasted no time scrambling past the gate. She managed to run all the way to a rock outcropping which she hid behind to wait for ED-E. The eyebot didn’t seem to have much trouble losing the mutants as it rejoined her a few minutes later.

“Good job,” she said to ED-E, who whistled happily. They followed the same tactic at two more checkpoints with little trouble. Layla was just starting to think they could do this. Then she spotted the NCR soldier's corpse.

Layla cautiously moved up to the body, which was sprawled at the bottom of a hill just off the road. He was badly wounded, some kind of blunt trauma by the look of it, but the courier didn’t want to take the time to see exactly what had killed him. She reached under the dead man’s shirt and freed his dog tags. The next NCR base she found, she’d turn them in. Burying him was out of the question, as much as she hated the thought.

Looking up the hill, she saw that she could circumvent a lot of the road if she went that way. It looked abandoned, so Layla started slowly making her way up. As she did, she heard noise ahead of her and looked further up. The clattering sound was a few large rocks starting to roll her way.

“Crap,” she hissed, running back down the hill and throwing herself against the rock wall that lined the path. Once the rocks came to a stop just before the road, Layla stared at them.

“Okay, maybe we’ll just go the long way…” She whispered out loud to herself more than ED-E. Looking out at the mountain, she could see more super mutants milling around from here. It was more likely she’d get discovered if she tried to go through them all. 

Layla looked back up at the hill. It was probably still her best bet. Hopefully those few rocks had been the only ones loose. Ignoring the warning in her head telling her she was going to get herself killed, she made another attempt to climb up.

As she made her way up, she came very close to putting her foot in a bear trap, just managing to stop herself before stepping down on it. Looking more carefully at the ground, she saw five more traps on the path ahead. 

Layla sighed, pulling her knife off her belt. She quickly whacked the blade against the device's pressure mechanism, retracting the knife as it snapped closed. Each of the others got the same treatment until they were all disarmed. Traps in the open meant hapless victims, which could also include her if she backtracked and forgot about them. Best to play it safe.

As the thought crossed her mind, she heard a loud rumbling and stood from her crouch, looking up the hill. Layla could see the rock wall ahead of her shaking, rattling off smaller stones that came rolling down the hill. But what had appeared to be part of the cliff face had actually been a gigantic boulder that had come free. It started rolling in her direction, picking up speed as it went.

“Oh… oh fuck!” the courier yelped, turning to run back the way she came. She felt the ground under her shake as the boulder rolled after her. “Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!”

Layla dove to the side of the rock face at the bottom of the hill. She reached out and pulled ED-E out of the way just as the boulder rolled by. The courier merely stared at the huge chunk of rock as it kept rolling down the mountain. It was taller than she was. It would have liquefied her.

It was a few minutes before Layla was able to make herself move again. First, she let go of the robot in her arms. ED-E floated up a bit, but stayed close to the courier. Standing on shaky legs, she peeked around the corner up the path. She could hear parts of her mind telling her to leave well enough alone. But, she’d already wasted too much time to give up now.

Carefully stepping around the now-mangled bear traps, Layla started back up the hill. Her steps were unsure at first, but there appeared to be no other loose rocks. There was a fence of crudely nailed together sheets of wood at the top of the little hill; Layla peeked around them, wondering what new horror there would be. Surprisingly enough, there was a clear shot to the top of the mountain beyond the rotted wood border. 

Grinning, she looked back to make sure ED-E was still with her. The eyebot hovered just behind her, not much further than when she'd let him go. Layla noticed she didn’t even hear the buzzing now.

“Let’s keep going,” she whispered. ED-E beeped quietly in response.

There was a group of buildings ahead of them that surrounded a gigantic crater. Layla pulled the binoculars off her belt and peered through. There were three super mutants milling around. Layla could see supplies and bedrolls in one of the blown-out buildings; the spot must be a guard post or something.

“ED-E?” she asked softly. “Can you go get them to chase you?” The robot trilled a response and headed off without hesitation. Again, he had no problem getting the mutants to follow him, and Layla snuck ahead. Just as she reached the first building, her Pip-Boy started making a high-pitched scratching tick noise. Horrified, she looked down at the machine, wondering why it decided at the worst possible time to…

Then she noticed what was causing the noise; the Geiger counter was ticking wildly. She’d hit a few pockets of heightened radiation on the mountain already, but this one was bad. Deciding to not stick around, she made a run for the gates, hoping to find Neil there before she ran into anyone else.

She ran until the Geiger counter finally stopped ticking, then ducked down behind another large rock. Layla let out a sigh; once she got done here, providing she lived, she'd have to go to Goodsprings and get her radiation levels checked. The last thing she wanted to was to keel over from radiation poisoning. Going ghoul didn't appeal either; she was fond of her skin.

ED-E hovered over as the courier contemplated living partially rotted. The little robot gave her a surprisingly smug-sounding beep in greeting, which brought a grin to her face.

“You did a very good job,” she said in a quiet giggle. The eyebot chirped happily.

“There you are,” a voice startled her. She spun around to find Neil standing behind her. Layla climbed to her feet, pleased with herself that she didn't scream at his sudden appearance. “I’m glad you made it this far,” the super mutant continued. “I have a plan.”

“Great,” Layla said, relieved to hear there would be order to this chaos. “What is it?”

“I’m going to tell the others at the gate that there’s an intruder and lead them away. You’ll be able to get through then.”

“Okay.” Layla waited for the second part of the plan, but the super mutant merely stared at her.

“Ooooookay,” Layla said with a nod. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she hoped. Neil gave her a shrug and lumbered off toward the gates without another word. Layla got down behind her rock again and waved ED-E to join her.

Her position was just starting to get uncomfortable when she saw Neil walking back, a few other super mutants in tow, scanning the area carefully as they made their way back down the path. The courier watched the group pass by, then dug in her pack for a Stealth Boy; her only Stealth Boy. She sighed as she slipped the device on, hoping she’d have enough time to sneak through the place with it.

“All right, ED-E,” she whispered, “go float somewhere innocuous.” Layla assumed his whistling meant he understood as he hovered off toward the bombed-out buildings they had just passed.

Layla watched him go, then looked down at the device in her hand. She'd only used one a few times before, and with varying levels of success. This one was going to have to count or she and Raul would be screwed. Taking a deep breath, she thumbed the Stealth Boy on. Her head tingled for a moment while she watched herself disappear in a shimmer. Standing, she peeked around the rock face and saw no one, so she stepped out and started for the gates. 

Three steps in, she walked into an invisible wall. Her stealth field dissipated at the same time a nightkin appeared in front of her. 

“INTRUDER!” The mutant bellowed as it pulled a huge blade off its back that looked like it had been made out of a car bumper.

“Wait, wait!” she cried. “Um… No, I’m not an intruder… I…” She faltered as she eyed the weapon’s sharp edge. “I… I have a delivery for Raul! He … needed something to fix the robot. Yes. I’m a courier, so I’m delivering it. That's what I do… deliver stuff. To places.” Layla smiled weakly at the mutant, hoping she wasn’t about to get her head cut off.

“Why are you using a Stealth Boy?!” the mutant demanded, voice full of suspicion.

“I… thought that was the thing to do around here,” Layla said lamely. “You can have it if you want it.”

The super mutant stared at her for a long moment. Just as Layla’s life started flashing before her eyes, it spoke.

“I'll take you to Raul,” the nightkin said, grabbing her by the shoulders. Layla didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified.

****

*.*.*

Raul Tejada sighed as he found another cockroach on his sleeping mat. First class all the way; that was his life. He smashed the bug with the heel of his palm once it had left the dirty fabric and stared at the dead insect for a moment.

“Lucky bastard,” he grumbled. Well, there was no sense in wasting the whole day in bed. Since there weren't any new repair orders, he'd decided to waste his whole day sitting at his worktable instead. Just as he was settling into sorting screws and nails, the old ghoul heard the door open in the room beyond his and wondered what fresh hell was coming his way now. 

His door opened, and one of the nightkin shoved a girl into the room. 

“You make order?” the nightkin demanded. Raul looked at the human, who was wearing ratty leather armor and giving him a pleading look.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” he answered. The girl shot him a dirty look before speaking.

“Are you Raul?”

“Yeah… why?” the ghoul asked, a little suspicion seeping into his tone. 

“I’m a courier. I’m making a delivery for the part you needed… for the broken robot?” 

He stared at her. She knew his name and about the robot. She must have heard him on Tabitha’s show. Maybe someone was finally trying to bust him out. But he couldn't help but wonder what part of her plan included getting pushed around by a nightkin.

“Oh… yeah, that. Yes. For the robot.”

“Good.” The nightkin bellowed. “I get Tabitha.” The mutant turned and left, locking the door behind them. The girl stared at the closed door for a moment, then turned.

“Well, I’m here to rescue you,” she said.

“You’re doing a bang up job of it, so far,” Raul retorted. 

The girl sighed at that, “Yeah, this isn’t going as planned. And I don’t think Neil is going to bail us out.” She frowned, eyes wandering around the tiny room Raul had been living in before she spoke again. “What’s the deal with that broken robot, anyway?”

“It was Tabitha’s ‘friend’ Rhonda,” Raul answered, shaking his head.

“I… thought Rhonda was on the radio show?”

Raul's head shook again. “It’s just Tabitha. Sometimes nightkin get a little crazy… and turn blue.”

“I noticed the blue ones,” the courier answered. “Why are they blue? I've only seen green super mutants before.”

“Something about all the stealth boys they use. It’s what makes them a little extra crazy too.”

She frowned. “Does that happen to everyone?” The girl looked at the little bit of exposed skin on her arm with a sickly expression.

“Don’t know, boss. I’ve seen a lot of blue super mutants, no blue humans. Seen plenty of crazy humans, though.”

“Okay. How are we getting out of here?” she asked, changing the subject fairly obviously.

“Isn’t this part of your brilliantly concocted plan?” Raul asked. 

“Oh sure. I have to say, I’m real happy I haven’t been murdered yet,” the girl said. She scratched at the bandana covering her head, grimacing a bit. A few wayward brown curls escaped the cloth, and she tucked them back in. "I’ve got a bad feeling it isn’t going to last unless we do something awful clever."

“Maybe you’ll get us both killed,” Raul responded somewhat hopefully. “That’s one way out.”

“You’re not filling me with confidence-” She was cut off as the door banged open. A group of super mutants trudged through, followed by Tabitha. Raul glanced at the girl next to him, who was staring at the nightkin. He didn’t blame her; the perky blonde wig and heart-shaped glasses were something to see all right.

“Are you a spy for the two-headed bear people?” Tabitha demanded in the girl’s direction. She paled considerably at that.

“What? No, I just… I’m a courier,” she squeaked out. “I deliver things.”

“Then what’s this?” Tabitha demanded, and one of the other nightkin dropped a hunk of metal on the ground.

“Oh, ED-E,” the girl said sadly, kneeling down to the scrap that had been dropped at her feet. Raul recognized one of those old radio robots, only this one had been smashed. The damage didn’t look irreparable, just took the thing offline by the looks of things. 

“So it IS yours,” Tabitha said, sounding smug. “You spies are no match for the State of Utobitha! Kill her!”

The courier looked up, horrified. Just as a few of the nightkin moved to grab her, Raul stepped in their way.

“She’s here to help me with the robot,” he said. “Unless you don’t want us to fix it…”

The nightkin stopped and looked back at Tabitha, who gave Raul a suspicious look. Just as the old ghoul figured he was at the end of the line, the super mutant leader spoke.

“Fine. Let’s go fix Rhonda. NOW.”

****

*.*.*

“Do you know how to fix robots?” Raul whispered to Layla as they were both shoved toward another building in the radio station’s complex.

“Uh, I fixed ED-E,” she answered, looking down at the smashed robot in her arms. “Can you fix robots?”

“I can work the mechanical parts,” the mechanic answered, “but the programming’s not my department.”

“Great,” Layla said. “We’re going to die, aren’t we?”

“Probably. Maybe you’ll get lucky and just get trapped here for the rest of your life,” the ghoul answered. 

“Oh. Wonderful.” 

The building they were all but thrown into seemed to be used for storage. There was food, ammunition and various bits of mechanical and household items stacked on shelves in the open room. Tabitha led them to the back of the building, where she indicated a robot lying on a desk.

“Fix Rhonda, or you're obviously spies,” the wig-wearing nightkin demanded. Layla swallowed as she handed ED-E to Raul and moved to the desk.

It was one of those Mr. Handy robots, and it had seen some action by the look of it. Its paint was chipped and dinged, and there were clear signs of recent repairs, more than likely Raul’s work.

She had a little experience goofing around with robotic parts over the years, but she didn’t know much more than the basics. She could tell the repairs were very well done; Raul definitely seemed to be a skilled mechanic. So it probably wasn’t anything mechanically wrong with the machine. There should be a access panel on the back. She nearly knocked herself over doing so, but she managed to turn the machine over to look.

There were a few things replaced on the robot’s computer brain; a few new wires connected the power source, and it looked like a new cooling fan had been installed. She switched on the power and heard the robot’s systems start up. Then nothing happened.

“Oh, nothing will bring back Rhonda!” Tabitha cried from behind her. “Kill them both!”

Layla spun around just as one of the nightkin grabbed her arm. Raul backed up a few steps as two other mutants approached him.

“Woah!” Layla cried. “Just give me a minute! I haven’t even done anything yet!”

Tabitha gave her a suspicious look. After a moment, she waved off her nightkin. 

The courier caught Raul giving her an unhappy look just as she turned back. She didn’t need to be told; if she didn’t fix this robot right now, they were both dead.

She turned the Mr. Handy off and looked for the motherboard. If everything was working, it had to mean there was something wrong with the machine’s programming or…

There was a switch on the motherboard. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? She flipped the switch, then reinitiated the robot. It whirred to life and began to move, hovering off the table.

“Hello Mistress Tabitha! 

“Rhonda? Is it really you?” Tabitha cried, sounding stunned.

“It is. My internal clock says it’s been 6 years, 52 days 40 minutes and 13 seconds since I last spoke to you. I hope you haven’t gotten lonely.”

“RHONDA!” Tabitha nearly knocking Layla down as she moved toward the Mr. Handy. 

“Are you ready to continue our journey?” It said in a prim voice.

Tabitha looked like she was nearly in tears as she nodded. Turning Layla's way, she spoke. “I don’t know how to thank you for bringing Rhonda back to me!” The super mutant dug in her pockets and shoved a key ring into Layla’s hands.

“Here, you can have anything you want here. We will prepare to continue our journey immediately!"

Before Layla could process that, let alone ask any questions, the nightkin marched out of the building, the rest of her group in tow. Layla stared at the door as it closed behind them for a long moment, then finally turned back to Raul.

“What did you do?” the ghoul asked.

“I uh… I flipped a switch.”

“Ah,” Raul said, shaking his head. He let out a breath. “Well, that worked out better than I thought.”

“You and me both,” Layla answered. “I guess we can leave now.”

“I guess so. Well, thanks boss. Didn’t even get us killed.”

“All in a day’s work,” Layla said, holding out her hand. “Layla Granville.”

“Raul Tejada,” the ghoul answered as he shook her hand. “Can we go now? I’ve spent enough time here.”

“Just as soon as I have a look around this storage room.”

****

*.*.*

“Well, I guess this is where we part ways…” Layla said, feeling strangely awkward. They were at the foot of the mountain, both laden with the loot they’d found at the radio station. Neil had stayed behind to direct any other mutants that came this way to Jacobstown, where apparently a more level-headed mutant named Marcus was in charge.

“Sure boss,” Raul answered. “I’ll just go. All alone.”

“Oh.” Layla stopped walking and turned back. “I uh… I have to go back to Goodsprings. I took a lot of radiation on the mountain… I don’t want to keep you.”

Raul merely raised a still-intact eyebrow at her, and she frowned. There had to be something she could do-

“Oh, I know! You can take ED-E for now!”

The ghoul had fixed the few things on the eyebot and gotten him back to working condition quickly. Now ED-E whistled at her, and she turned his way.

“You’ll keep Raul safe, right? We can meet up later.”

The eyebot twittered at that, then hovered to Raul.

“See? This will work out fine.”

Raul gave the floating robot a dubious look, but shrugged. "Are you sure you don't want him?"

"I'd like him back at some point, but he'll keep you safe for now."

"All right, boss, I'll just take your flying radio and head off."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for this blast! I'll probably be back here to start another the Friday after next, see you then and thanks for reading!


	6. Caravan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Layla and Boone both pretend to know how to play Caravan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes another five-chapter surge; one a day until they're done! I hope you enjoy~

"Play it again."

"For the love of god! No, I'm not playing the tape again.” Layla glowered at Boone as she slapped down the card on the sandy ground. “My Three of Hearts finishes this caravan." The sniper reached over for the holotape sitting on a rock a few feet away from the pair, but the girl slapped the tape off the rock and out of reach.

For a moment, she worried she'd damaged the thing; Ringo had recorded that for her. Layla was certain the man wouldn't be happy knowing she'd smacked the hell out of it while fighting over rules instead of listening to it. 

Boone glared at her for a moment, then looked back at his cards. He put a four of clubs on the end of the "Caravan" closest to him without a word. The courier looked at the card, and then the sniper, finally looking back at her cards. She had no clue how to play Caravan, and she was fairly certain that Boone didn't either. And stubbornness dictated that she could not go back for the recording now.

Further away from the tape, on the other side of the fire, was the lever-action rifle they had looted from a raider. Layla had called dibs on it the moment she saw it. Boone had mentioned she didn't use rifles, so the courier suggested they play for it. They both agreed to a round of Caravan, and now they were stuck. 

The moody sniper had been traveling with Layla for a while now, and this had to be the most annoying exchange they'd had yet. Normally things were fairly smooth sailing. Keeping her face neutral, the girl laid down a seven of spades on one the piles, then leveled a look at the man. He doesn't know how to play, so he can't say-

"You can't do that,” Boone said, pointing to the card she had just put down. “That caravan's descending, not ascending."

"What? No it isn't…" Layla trailed off, not sure if the order mattered. She looked up at the sniper suspiciously, but he had an impenetrable poker face. She retracted the card and replaced it with a four of clubs. Boone looked over the piles and put a king of hearts on the caravan the courier had just added to.

"I thought you couldn't put an ascending card on that caravan…"

Boone looked up, frowning. "You can put a king if you're closing the caravan."

"No you can't, and that doesn't add up anyway."

"You can if it's a king."

"No. That's a queen you're thinking of."

The sniper looked down at his cards, then at the caravan piles, then groaned loudly. It was the most overt emotion she'd seen out of him yet. "Neither of us knows how to play. Just trade me for the damn rifle."

Layla tried not to show the grin that was pulling at the corners of her mouth at that suggestion. "Fine… What do you have?" She knew she had laid on the innocent routine too thick when Boone narrowed his eyes at her. Without a word, he dug through his pack and pulled out a bottle. He put the Nuka-Cola Victory she had been coveting in her hands and walked over to the rifle, the card game apparently forgotten.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Layla picked up the cards and put them into her pack. She leaned against a rock near their campfire and looked at the glowing orange-red bottle. This particular flavor of Nuka-Cola wasn't something she had tried before, but she had heard of them. As she studied swirls of color, a frown slowly crawled over her face. She had finagled this situation from the beginning, and it hadn't been exactly undetectable. In the time they'd been traveling, she and Boone had already started working well together; she didn't want to ruin it over a lousy pop.

She looked up to speak to Boone, hoping he wasn't mad, but found he had already pulled the rifle apart and was cleaning each piece.

He looked happy enough, just about as much as whenever there was a new gun to clean. There was only a moment's more hesitation before Layla decided all was well and popped open the bottle with her knife. She took a moment to calm herself and focus, then took a sip of the bright liquid. It tasted like lightning bolts, and she sputtered on just that little bit. The second drink was infinitely better, like lightning-powered cherry citrus.

"How is it?" Boone's voice broke her out of her flavor-induced stupor, and she found him looking up at her.

"You've never had any?" Boone shook his head, and the girl instantly felt guilty. She got up from her rock and carefully picked her way past the rifle pieces, sitting next to the sniper and handing him the bottle. He accepted without question and took a swig. He coughed and made a face like he was drinking turpentine, then handed back the bottle.

"I got the better side of the deal."


	7. Somewhere Along the Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Layla and Boone are still adjusting to fighting together

"Get out of here, get me some money tooooo," Layla sang to herself as she spread paste on the back of a poster. Once she was satisfied with the amount of goo on the paper, she slapped it against the warped metal wall she stood before.

Boone had been very patient with the courier as she stopped occasionally along the road to hang posters. The half-destroyed metal shack she'd just adorned was a bit out of the way, admittedly. 

"See, imagine you're all shot up and a radscorpion stung you and you're nearly dead, right?" she found herself saying, half to herself and half to the sniper. Glancing his way, the courier saw he was still looking along the horizon, probably scouting for trouble. He gave no indication that he was listening to her, but she knew better. As if anyone could ignore her, pah. Assuming he was paying attention to her, she continued, "So you're half dead and a storm's coming and you find the only piece of shelter in the area." She raised a hand to slap the metal shack's wall, making a loud tinny clang. Boone’s head finally turned her way at the sudden noise.

"Then you're all 'Thank god, I'll live to see another day!' then BAM! NCR poster right there on your salvation. And every time you think about the shack that saved your life, you'll also think about how the NCR could be helping you out too."

Her companion had gone back to scanning the surrounding area, though now he seemed to be focused on a group of coyotes who were creeping up their way. 

Layla figured the sniper had it covered, so she went back to the poster before her. One of the edges had flopped forward, so she flicked it back into place. As she dabbed the corner to paste it down securely, she continued. "Anyway, at two caps a poster, we'll be loaded in time to get to the Strip. Then we can blow it all at blackjack." 

Boone's gaze turned her way again, eyebrows scrunched together. She merely smiled at him until he looked away. She dug around in her bag until she found her logbook.

"They wanted to pay me in NCR money," Layla said, somewhat to herself again as she scribbled in the general location, checking her Pip-Boy for better details. "I told the guy to stuff it. My contract in Shady Sands says caps. We just need to get to an NCR camp or base or something." The girl looked back at Boone. "Are there any bases nearby?"

"McCarren, or Camp Golf," Boone said, the first words he’d spoken in a while. Layla heard the somewhat distracted tone and turned; the coyotes had crept even closer, clearly intent on coming up to them. That probably wasn't good. Layla walked to Boone's side just as he started pulling his rifle off his back.

"HEY, GET OUTTA HERE!" Layla shouted. Both Boone and the small pack of coyotes startled at that. Layla followed up before the coyotes decided what to do. "ÀNDALE!"

That shout got the coyotes to turn around and scamper off. Once she was satisfied with their retreat, she went back to her earlier thought. "So I just need to show them my log and my contract, and they'll pay us." 

The courier had the feeling Boone was staring at her as she went back to her logbook.

****

*.*.*

Layla hummed to herself, the sound clear in the still desert air as she dug through a honey mesquite plant. It would have been a pleasant, calm scene if Boone wasn't watching through his scope as a giant radscorpion closed in on her.

The sniper was grimacing by the time he finally lined up a shot and fired, stopping the oversized insect before it could get to Layla. He nearly sighed in relief when it stopped moving. He'd taken too long; despite his quick reaction time to the creature sneaking up on them, a second or two later and Layla would have been hurt.

The sound of his gun going off had clearly startled the courier, and once she realized what had happened, she paled a bit. But the shock seemed to wear off quickly, and she was soon gathering the mesquite pods off the ground where they'd fallen from her hands.

Once they were secured in her pack for their dinner later, she stepped closer to the radscorpion. Giving it a careful inspection, she turned Boone's way and held out her hand expectantly.

There was a note of hesitation, but Boone eventually stepped forward, pulling his big machete off his belt and handing it over. The courier gave him a wide grin then turned back to the scorpion.

Layla had mentioned she was half Arroyan; it was noticeable when she started hacking into the dead creatures of the Mojave for their profitable parts. As that thought lingered, he saw another giant radscorpion starting for them.

He reached for his gun, noting that Layla had stopped paying attention again.

****

*.*.*

The giant ant was keeping nice and still, just the way Layla liked her targets. Squinting one eye closed at the creature past the iron sights on her gun, she was just about to pull the trigger when two quick shots went off elsewhere. The ant’s head exploded with a wet plop.

With a long-suffering sigh, Layla lowered her gun and glared at Boone, who also lowered his weapon. Catching the sigh and her look, he frowned. "What?" he asked, sounding confused.

"You're supposed to be my spotter, right?" the courier asked. Boone merely nodded, so she continued. "That means you're supposed to tell me when you see enemies coming at us, not just blow them apart! You're taking all my kills!"

The sniper's expression turned lightly incredulous, but he nodded. "Fine."

Layla gave him a light glare to drive the point home, then let it go. They went back to walking down the road in relative peace. An hour later, Layla saw Boone slow, hands reaching for his rifle.

"Wha?" she asked, looking in the direction the sniper was staring. "What is it?" There was a blown-out building, but not much else. Oh wait, there was a-

"There's one," Boone said as he pulled the trigger. Layla just managed to see a man running their way in pieced-together armor with a pipe in hand before Boone's shot downed him.

"Hey! You were-"

"There's one," Boone said again just before he fired. One of the other raiders coming out of the building took a bullet to the neck.

"That's not-"

"There's another one," the man said just as he shot again. Layla put her hands on her hips.

"That's not what-!"

"Another one," Boone shot what looked to be the group's leader, at least going by how much nicer his armor was. Layla looked back to see the remaining two raiders coming their way.

"Two more," the sniper said, taking them both down. Once it was clear they weren't getting back up, Boone slung his rifle. He seemed to take an extra moment to prepare himself, then looked at Layla. He was right to do so; she was giving him a scowl.

"What?" he asked as if he had no clue. By the time a tiny smirk worked its way onto his face, the courier threw her hands in the air.

"Oh forget it," she said, sounding annoyed as she tried to fight back an amused grin. She turned so Boone couldn't see. The jerk.

****

*.*.*

"BoooooooOOOOOONE!"

The sniper turned to see Layla running his way with two lakelurks in pursuit. She'd just gone around a rock a minute ago. How had she even managed this?

That thought, while coming to him instantly, was for the most part ignored as he dropped to one knee, readying his rifle. He lined up his shot, but kept his finger off the trigger. Layla kept getting in the way as she ran. Her erratic movements were good reasoning; lakelurks could emit a sonic blast that would take her right off her feet if it landed. But despite the good move, it kept Layla in his scope instead of the creature. 

The courier complicating his shots had become something of a way of life for Boone lately. She wandered headfirst into danger so often, it was hard to believe she'd survived this long.

Since he couldn't get a direct line on the lakelurk closest to Layla, Boone swung his rifle over to the other. Three quick shots put it down, then it was back to the one still chasing the courier. By now, though, they were both too close; he'd never get a proper shot off. So he slung his rifle and pulled his machete free just as Layla ran past him.

The lakelurk had ignored Boone until he swung at it, just missing its neck. The monster turned his way, using its momentum to swing a clawed hand at the sniper. Boone bit back a pained grunt as it made contact with his arm. Before he could take another swing, the lakelurk bellowed out a sonic burst. The blast hit him directly in the face, stopping his oncoming attack. He felt his legs give out under him as his vision faded.

Blue sky dotted with dull gray clouds were what Boone opened his eyes to see. He felt something lumpy under his head, probably his pack, and the gritty warm feeling of pavement under his back. His arm was being moved; he looked down to see Layla bandaging the area that had been clawed. Just beyond the girl was the second lakelurk, full of bullet holes.

Figuring the situation was settled, he started to sit up. When he moved, however, Layla's hand shot up and firmly pressed on his chest, keeping him down.

"Just stay put for a few minutes. Your equilibrium is probably all messed up still. " She finished wrapping the bandage, then turned a smile his way. "Just rest for a minute. The area's clear and we've got plenty of daylight yet."

She sat back on her heels, and Boone gave her a quick inspection for injuries. She seemed to have come out of the fight unharmed. Good. As he looked her over, Layla gave him a mischievous grin.

"You need to keep your head down when you're fighting," she said. "I couldn't get a shot in."

Boone glared daggers at her.


	8. I Don't Claim to be an Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Layla talk shop

Layla let out a tiny whine, the most she allowed herself, as she ducked behind the remains of a cinder block wall. The move jostled the new bullet hole in her shoulder pretty badly, and it took a moment to steel herself enough to function again. The bullet was still in there. Layla had already spotted it. Hell, she could feel it.

She glanced across from where she had hunkered down to the mail drop box Veronica was currently leaning against. The scribe was looking her way, clearly waiting for her. She quirked her eyebrows questioningly, then pointed to her shoulder, the same one that had a bullet sticking out of it on Layla. 

The courier shook her head, then nodded towards the group of raiders still shooting at them. Veronica nodded as well, and Layla saw the other woman flex the fingers strapped to her powerfist. Whoever these poor saps were, they probably weren't prepared for Veronica.

Layla waited, until she heard a lull in the shooting. "Go!" she yelled at the other girl as she came out from her own cover, firing in the general direction of the raiders. Veronica vaulted over the drop box and over another chunk of wall before landing fist-first into one of their faces.

Despite her screaming arm, Layla kept firing to keep them off the scribe as she made her way from raider-to-raider. Once it was down to one last man and Veronica had already broken the arm and hand his gun had been in, the courier let herself slide back down behind her barricade.

The awful scream she heard confirmed that Veronica had handled the situation, so Layla dug around in her bag for her medical kit. The beat up doctor's bag had all her trusty medical tools along with a few emergency chems. She hated using Med-X, and the one time she'd used a super stimpak had been horrible. Regular stimpaks were in much easier to access pouches, and were probably used too often, but that was a worry for another time.

For now, she cleaned off her tweezers with some of her 'medicinal' whiskey. Just as she was starting to prepare herself, Veronica appeared, still wiping blood from her face. Without missing a beat, the woman sat on a chunk of car and watched Layla.

"You know," the courier said, giving the other woman a Look, "you could help me here."

Veronica shook her head immediately. "No thanks; that's not in my pay grade. Besides, I don't have any training past holding bleeding spots and asking who the next of kin is." The scribe looked somewhere between fascinated and ill as she stared at the wound. "Haven't you have to do this on your own before anyway?"

"Yeah," the courier grumbled. "Doesn't mean I want to pull bullets out of my own arm." She'd had some training with the Followers of the Apocalypse on emergency first aid. Layla could pull out bullets, field dress wounds and treat a few ailments, and there was some tricks she'd picked up back home that outsiders often gave the dubious heading of 'tribal medicine.' But that still didn't make it any fun to dig out projectiles. 

Deciding it was best to just get it over with, she took a deep breath, stuck the tweezers against the bullet, and pulled. Fortunately, it was still in one piece. Unfortunately, it hurt horrendously.

"Gross," she heard Veronica said, tone sickly. Layla shot another deadpanned look her way, tossing the bullet. She was pretty sure the damage wasn't too bad, so she stuck a stimpak into the skin near the wound. Once the medication was in, she started the painful process of cleaning and stitching. As she did, she glanced back at Veronica, who seemed to be suddenly busy checking over her powerfist.

"How is this gross, but you punching people into a pulp isn't?" 

"That's different," the scribe answered, not looking up. "It's business."

"And this isn't?"

"Well, that's medical business. Which is no business of mine," Veronica peeked up in time to see Layla shaking her head. She was done stitching, so she bandaged her arm and pulled her shirt back on completely.

"It must have sucked being out there on your own," Veronica spoke up. 

Layla sighed as she thought back to all the time she had traveled alone. "It had its charms, but it also got me a hole in the head." She grimaced despite herself. "Anyway, I prefer having backup over getting to make all the decisions."

"Hah. You boss everyone as it is."

Layla leveled another glare at Veronica, who smiled sweetly at her. "ANYWAY, it's nice not to have to talk to myself for company. Even if present company is an ass."

Veronica had opened her mouth to speak, but there was a shout from beyond them. More raiders were heading their way.

"Stay back and shoot," Layla cried. "I'm gonna throw a grenade!" But before she could get one out of her bag, Veronica had already run out and started punching. The courier had to stop herself from gagging when she caught sight of a man's skull exploding. She barely had time to line up a shot before the raiders were all dead.

Veronica looked over the bodies, then sauntered back, grinning smugly. "What was that again?"

"What happened to shooting?" Layla asked, holstering her gun.

"My gun jammed," Veronica replied airily.

"Oh like hell it did."


	9. Fiendish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiend territory turns out to be just as dangerous as expected

Layla could admit when she was making a bad decision. At least to herself. Especially when no one was around to talk her out of them. And wandering around in South Vegas was a bad decision. Ignoring her own mental warnings wasn't new, but the fact that she was out alone was a particularly unwise, even for her. Even she was inside one of the ruined buildings and not out in the open.

What had once been an industrial area was pretty interesting, however, so Layla had decided to just peek around a little. She was supposed to meet Veronica in Goodsprings in a day or two and was taking a little detour. The courier wasn't so far into the territory that she would be certain to run afoul any Fiends, the resident raiding group, so at least that was something. The chemmed-up criminals liked to stick around their home base of Vault 3 by the looks of things. Good for them. 

Had she heard something move? Maybe? She strained her ears, but didn't detect any other noise. Even so, the girl felt like that might be a good enough signal to just beat feet out of there. It was starting to get dark anyway.

The crumbling building had been fairly bare, at least the first floor. There was a stairwell leading up to a level she hadn't explored yet. It wasn’t too different from the other buildings in the area, except that some sad little plant had tried to make a go of growing along a pillar in the center of the open room. Wishing the plant good luck, the courier started for the exit. If she just made a beeline for Camp McCarran, she'd be fi-

"Hold it right there, missy."

Layla, despite her earlier decision to keep quiet, let out a little shriek as she spun in the direction of the voice. A man had managed to sneak up on her. He was filthy and loosely covered in ripped clothing and pieced-together armor. On the top of his head, not quite able to completely cover his dirty gray hair, was a the skull-adorned helmet of a Fiend. That was bad. She noticed a battered revolver in his hand and that it was pointed her way. That was also bad. The man looked irritated, but an ugly grin of chipped teeth began to spread over his face.

The courier slowly raised her hands. Once her palms were up and out, she spoke. "Okay, let's not do anything hasty." That was pointed more at herself than the Fiend as she thought about how to get at her own gun before she got shot. "I was just about to leave your... fine building." She glanced around to see if there was somewhere she could hide. "It's very nice. Do you, ah, live here alone?"

The Fiend’s grin lowered into a dead-panned expression. "Not my place. If this were my building, you'd already been blown to pieces." He gave her an exaggerated fake pout, but the smile slid back onto his face before she could piece together what that had meant. "I think I'll claim this spot for my own, though. Maybe even set up a little tax for visitors." He nodded thoughtfully. "Mmhm, that's a great idea. Empty your pockets for me, would you, dear?"

Layla's mouth stayed firmly pressed closed; she had left her heavy bag in a Mojave Express drop box while she explored. A lucky break for not losing her things, not so great for appeasing the Fiend who may have just let her go. With a sigh, she stuck her hands into her ratty leather armor's pockets.

"You're not going to be very impressed," she said as she dug. Soon a pencil, a tangle of old wire, three caps and a still-wrapped toothbrush were tossed on the ground between them. The courier kept her gun. Hopefully he'd just let her go before noticing.

"So, I'll just be on my way then."

The Fiend sneered down at the sad excuse for loot she'd offered. Looking back up, he focused his aim with the gun a little better. That wasn't a good sign.

"Ah ah ah, the tax covers you coming in the building. Never said anything about you leaving. He took a few steps closer, waving the gun a bit before speaking again. "At least not alive."

Layla's stomach did a little flip. With no backup and nothing useful on her to get through this, she was going to have to talk her way out of getting shot.

"There's no need for anyone to get hurt. That's all my stuff; there's no more to get out of me."

The Fiend let out an ugly snort. "No no no, didn't you learn that life isn't all about material goods?" He took another step closer, booted feet crunching against the dirty ground. "Knowledge for instance, like what makes a body work." He put two fingers to his temple. "What makes it stop." He pulled the imaginary trigger.

The hand dropped, and he looked down at the real gun in his hand. "And sharing that knowledge with others, it's very sats-"

Layla, despite getting chill from how fucking creepy that particular line had been, moved when the Fiend looked down at his gun. She grabbed her pistol, firing off a blind shot as she dove for the pillar in the center of the room.

She leaned against the cracked plaster and the sad little vine wound around it, trying to plan her next move when the Fiend bellowed.

"That hurt! This is not going to end well for you. It's not going to end quickly for you now either!" she heard footsteps, then leaned out from the pillar before he could close the distance.

The Fiend was coming for with a knife in the hand that hadn't been holding the pistol. She must have hit that hand as it was covered in blood now and empty. She leveled her gun at him, expecting him to stop when he saw it. He didn't, and Layla didn't hesitate to unload the rest of her magazine his way.

She hit him, that much was obvious; blood spurted out from his side and leg, but the Fiend didn't seem to notice; he kept coming her way, knife raised.

Layla's hand went for her own knife. But she didn't exactly use the old blade for fighting and was far from prepared to do so now. Grimacing, she decided on a more direct plan; she pushed off from the pillar and barreled into the Fiend. 

There was a squawk from both of them. Layla cried out when the Fiend's knife bit into her arm. The Fiend let out a yelp as he was knocked to the ground. The courier, who managed to keep her feet under her, spared no time taking off in a run out of the building. 

Just as she thought to see if the man was after her, a knife flew past her head. "SHIT!" she cried, glancing back to find the Fiend still on the ground. That was good enough for her, so she kept running. Out of the building, out of South Vegas and all the way to the doors of Camp McCarran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isfet is actually my friend and RP partner Toasty's character. Some of the dialog was lifted from various RPs as well~


	10. Fools Rush In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How difficult could clearing out a quarry full of deathclaws be?

There was a solemn quiet over the area as Layla wrapped the roll of bandages one more time around her patient's arm. Once the end was secured, she sat back on her heels and looked over her work. The patient turned their head and shoved it into Layla's face affectionately. The girl laughed and rubbed Snuffles the molerat on the head.

"I'm pretty sure she'll recover just fine," Layla said as she stood back up. The quarry workers who'd been worriedly watching over the courier's ministrations all seemed to relax a bit. She noticed Boone still looking at Snuffles, a somewhat concerned expression on his face.

Layla wiped her hands on the legs of her cobbled together armor, then looked back to Chomp Lewis, the guy in charge. "So uh, what were you saying about deathclaws earlier?"

"Huh?" he turned his attention away from Snuffles. "Oh. They wandered into the quarry and set up shop. If we don't get them out, we won't be able to go back to work. The NCR needs the rock for cement." The man shrugged, looking annoyed by the whole thing.

"We can take care of that," Layla said casually. She saw Boone's head whip her way at that, but she continued before he could speak. "Which way to the entrance?"

"Just over there," Chomp said, pointing. He didn't look too happy when he spoke again. "You're not really going in there, are you?"

"Don't worry about it. We do this kind of thing all the time." This time she glanced at Boone, who was giving her a very grim look. "We'll be back as soon as we take out the alpha and den mother."

The quarry workers looked as worried as Boone, but the sniper started following her up the hill. "Don't know if this is a good idea," he grumbled.

"It'll be fine," Layla soothed. "How tough could a deathclaw be?"

"You've never seen one?" His face snapped back in her direction. He did not sound happy.

"Naw, but come on; they can't be that bad."

****

*.*.*

Chomp Lewis was relieved, if not amused, to see the two travelers come running back to Sloan. The courier in particular looked frazzled as she came to a stop a few feet in front of him. She doubled over, hands on her knees as she fought to catch her breath. The sniper, as soon as he reached them, turned back and aimed his rifle up the hill. When nothing came after them, he lowered his weapon without firing.

"That was a deathclaw?!" Layla panted.

"No,” Boone answered, sounding tense. “That was a baby deathclaw.”

Layla looked up at him, then turned her gaze back to the ground. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" she straightened back up while still groaning, "...uuuuuuuuuuuck."

The sniper seemed to have been waiting for her to finish before he spoke up again. "Prepare next time." He hadn't lost the tension in his posture or words.

The girl nodded with a sigh, then looked back up the way they'd come. The acknowledgment eased the stiff posture in Boone, who turned as well to look at the quarry.

A few quiet moments later, a smile spread over Layla's face. "Don't you two worry your pretty heads. I've got an idea. I found this thing called a fatman. And two whole mini-nukes-"

"Woah woah woah.” Chomp shook his head. “If you irradiate the whole area, we won't be able to go back to work anyway, which was the point of getting rid of the deathclaws anyway!"

That stole the smile from Layla’s face. A note of frustration settled on her features when she turned back to Boone.

"Well... do you have any ideas?"

The sniper crossed his arms over his chest. "I can take them out if I can get high enough to be out of their reach." He turned back in the direction of the quarry. He pointed to the machinery visible from where they were. "If I have enough time, I can get on top of the rock crusher. But we need a distraction..." He trailed off, looking like he regretted what he'd said.

Layla, on the other hand, regained her smile. "I have an idea."

"No," the sniper said firmly, but the girl looked unaffected.

"Oh come on, I can run pretty fast."

"Not fast enough."

"I found more stealth boys. I'll use one and throw a grenade somewhere far enough out to cause trouble. They all go running over to see what happened, and I get out. Meanwhile you get up on the crusher thing and fire away."

Boone was still grimacing, but the sour expression slowly faded. He grumbled something about that being a good plan, which only made Layla smile more. Then she turned towards Chomp.

"Mr. Lewis, if you'll excuse us." 

The quarry foreman nodded, but shook his head as they walked away. They were probably going to end up dead.

****

*.*.*

Boone did not like this at all. Layla had already run off with her stealth boy activated. He couldn't see her at all and the whole quarry filled with deathclaws was making him anxious to get to higher ground. If she was discovered, he wouldn't be able to help her from here.

Before he could think more on it, there was an explosion from further in the quarry. He saw the baby deathclaws run off along with the adults, so he made a dash for the rock crusher. He reached it without trouble, running up the still conveyer belt as quickly as he dared.

Once he got to the top of the machine, he quickly pulled his rifle off his back and crawled to the edge. Looking through the scope, he saw a large group of deathclaws looking around, sniffing the air. There was no noticeable blood, so Layla probably hadn't been discovered.

A moment later, he heard a very bad attempt at a bird call from somewhere behind him. That was the signal, so he opened fire on the creatures below.

****

*.*.*

"Well go on, it's getting cold," Jas said, indicating to the dishes she'd just placed before Layla and Boone. "Just like I promised."

Boone poked at his deathclaw omelet with a fork, but Layla was already biting into hers.

"Mmm... This was definitely worth it." 

Boone leveled a mild glare in her direction. "Is this why we went and did that?"

"Well... yeah. How else was I ever going to get to try a wasteland omelet?" She shoveled another bite into her mouth. "Do you know how expensive these are in California?"

The sniper stared at her for a moment, then gave up and settled down to eat as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end for this set of chapters! We'll be back (probably) the week after next. Thanks for reading!


	11. Sleep Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Layla runs across the Fiend who attacked her earlier, but now with the upper hand
> 
> OH! Warning for a gnarly eye injury!

Layla's mouth was set in a tight line as she stared out beyond her perch. The old crumbling building she'd discovered had once been pretty red brick and white mortar. Now it was little more than a few scraggily, skeletal pieces of wall. This particular spot made a nice seat, so she had stopped for a quick lunch.

The charm of her picnic spot had put her in a good mood. The area was destroyed, most of the buildings were crumbled, but a few stubborn vines had grown around the wreckage. They wound around heavily in a few spots, giving the area an almost garden-like feel. It was even fairly hidden from the road.

The courier was on her own again. Tomorrow, Veronica was going to meet her in Goodsprings. The plan was to head there after her break. It wasn't particularly far and it was just barely after noon, so she was in no hurry to move, and this new little lunch spot was probably going to get repeat business from her.

But now the nice view of the scenically crumbled area was spoiled by a lone figure further down the road. He was stumbling around as if injured, his footsteps confused and wobbling. When worry started to rise in the courier, she dug around her bag for her binoculars to see if she could recognize what was wrong.

She'd figured it out quickly: going by the flush on the man's cheeks as well as the skin of his shoulders and chest peeking out from his nearly shredded shirt and the dazed expression, he was suffering from a bad fever. The cause was also easy to determine; from the bandages under the sleeveless tunic and blood on his pants. He'd been injured recently, and by the looks of things, his wounds had gotten infected.

Layla knew he had been shot a few times, since she'd been the one who shot him. It was the Fiend the courier had run into a few days ago. The one who'd tried to rob and kill her. Now he was alone and stumbling around haplessly.

There was a fresh magazine in her gun. Layla wasn't too hot a long-distance shot, but given the man's condition, she could probably waltz right up to him and put him down with no problem. But even with that knowledge, the girl's hand didn't stray down to her holster. Instead, it stayed on the binoculars.

Why was that man all the way out here? Why was he running around with a fever by himself? The bandages on his torso looked fairly well done, but if he was this messed up, why hadn't whoever wrapped them kept the Fiend somewhere safe until the fever went down? Shouldn't he be with his fellow Fiends? 

Possible answers cropped up to all her questions; but she supposed none of them mattered. The important thing was that the man was right in front of her and clearly in trouble. But then again, he was also a Fiend. Layla finally put the binoculars down and drew her gun. This guy had made some ugly-sounding threats to her. God only knows what crimes he'd committed. Fiends didn't get their name from being a benefit to society.

Getting off her seat, Layla finally started making her way towards the injured man. She had begun the walk with the intent of shooting him and being done with it. But when she got to him, she spoke instead.

"Do you need help?" came out of her mouth without much thought. The man responded by turning around quickly, though his shaky footing nearly toppled him over. He stared at Layla for a long moment, slightly glassy eyes darting over her features.

"Wh... Oh you're the... again," the Fiend slurred. Layla had to hold back a grimace; he sounded like he was in pretty bad shape. The courier had kept herself at a ready posture, out of reach and with her gun still in her hand, but once he spoke, she put the gun back in its holster. 

"Come on, let's get you to Goodsprings," she said as she reached out to take the man's arm. Her frown grew when she felt his clammy, too-hot skin. "The doctor there will help you," she added.

The Fiend flinched at the touch, but didn't struggle. "Nnn... I know the doctor. I was jussst going there myself." He looked down at the dark, blank screen of the cracked Pip-boy on his arm. Layla hadn't even noticed the sad thing when they'd met the first time. The Fiend looked back up. "It's that way," he pointed the wrong way.

Layla started gently turning him in the right direction. She had to put some effort into keeping a neutral expression; it was a wonder he hadn't already keeled over. They would have to hurry to Goodsprings before he was too weak to move. The harsh Mojave sun was beating down on them. Had it been summer, Layla was sure the man would have been dead by now.

There wasn't much she could do for him out here except get him to safety and a doctor, but his stumbling and hot skin was making her worry. He needed something that would bring quick relief, like an anti-inflammatory.

"Buffout," she said out loud. "Do you have any Buffout?" Steroids were anti-inflammatories... weren't they? And maybe she'd get lucky and the Fiend would have some. He'd looked up at her again when she spoke, then stood with a somewhat confused, somewhat contemplative expression. 

"Uh... here." He shoved a hand into a pocket of his ripped, stained pants and pulled out a few different kinds of pills. They slipped out of his hand and fell onto the hard packed dirt below them. Layla just stared at them for a moment. She had no clue what they were.

With a sigh, she just gathered and pocketed the mystery medications. This had been no help. She tried to think of something she had on her that would be of use. If only she'd spotted the man a few minutes earlier, she'd have had some of the water in her now-empty bottle. 

She took the Fiend's arm and started leading him along again. Since she had nothing to help, they had to get to Goodsprings as quickly as possible. Otherwise she'd have to bury him when she got there. Just as that grim thought struck her, Layla noticed something, a little beacon of hope in the form of a cactus. 

"Stay here for a moment," the courier said as she stopped the Fiend's movement. Before he could argue or question her, Layla moved for the plant, pulling her knife from her belt. There were two big fat cactus fruits on the top of the squat plant. As she gently got the fruit free and started cutting the skin off, she remembered the last time knives were involved between her and the Fiend teetering on his feet a few steps away.

No time for that now. Once the fruit was prepared, Layla turned back to find the Fiend sitting down on the road. Walking back, she held up the fruit. "Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better."

The Fiend turned his head up her way, and Layla suddenly realized his helmet was missing. She looked at his mess of gray hair as the Fiend reached up to snatch the fruit from her hand. He pulled it close to his face and inspected it with big, bloodshot green eyes.

"What ... a cactus fruit thing? The hell good w-will that do?"

A sigh snaked out of Layla's mouth at that. There wasn't time for her to talk him into eating. Instead, she leaned over to pull him back to his feet. The man made a few pained noises that put a worried frown on Layla's face, but he was upright a moment later.

"We need to keep moving," she said somewhat to herself, "and you need to eat that."

"Fine, fine," he grumbled, taking a bite of the fruit. Layla felt a little burst of relief even as the Fiend leaned his weight onto her, probably unaware that he was doing it. Juice from the cactus fruit that had spilled over the man dripped onto her, but she kept her mind on the road ahead of them.

"What's your name?" the courier asked, suddenly realizing she didn't know it. "I'm Layla," she added. 

"What does it matter what my name is?" the Fiend responded, annoyance rising in his hazy tone. "My name is Mister I'm-Fucking-Dying-Over-Here." 

Layla turned an exasperated look his way and noticed he had finished his fruit. She handed the other one she'd prepared. "Don't be a grump. Come on, what is it? Don't make me guess."

The Fiend didn't protest this time as he took the fruit. He still gave Layla a snarl as he answered, "It begins with an I..."

There was a touch of a grin on her face as he answered, even if he was acting like a little shit. Keeping him talking seemed to be working well to keep him moving; they were already a good distance from where they started. "Is it Ishmael?" 

There was a grunt from the man, then a grumbled answer. "No, but the I-S part was right." He glanced at her. "What kind of name is 'Ishmael'?"

"An old one," Layla said. This little distraction was working, but now she was stumped. How many names started with I-S?

"Umm... Isaac?"

The Fiend started coughing, and Layla worried he'd swallowed . After a few more coughs, he shook his head. "No. It's Isfet."

Layla nodded once he recovered his breathing. "Okay, Isfet, let's keep moving."

The Fiend gave her another dirty look, but then nodded back. While they walked, she kept glancing at her charge to see how he was doing. Honestly, he looked terrible, and not just from the fever. His open shirt kept giving her glimpses of the scared skin of his torso. The poor guy had clearly been in a lot of fights. 

Of course, he was a Fiend, so that meant he'd probably started them. Layla focused on the road before them instead of thinking harder about that. There were only a few quiet moments until she spotted a building in the distance.

"Ah." She had been relieved, but it dried up a moment later. "We're getting close to the skydiving place. Powder Gangers hang out there. They uh... don't like me all that much. So..." She stopped him, then dug in her bag. Once she found her back-up bandana, it went over her face. Her normal one was still over the top of her head, covering her bullet wounds. "Just act casual and don't look at anyone and hopefully they won't bother us."

"Why don'tcha just shoot blindly at them," Isfet said grumpily. "That seemed to work out great for you last time." 

The courier frowned. She would have considered it, but she didn't have much for ammo, and she couldn't imagine the feverish Fiend would survive a gunfight right now. She was about to answer, but Isfet beat her to it.

"Alright, lead the way."

Layla did just that. She kept them to the side of the road away from the school, trying not to be obvious about avoiding them. Unfortunately, one of the two men standing by the building broke off and headed for them once they started passing by. The sun-blistered wall of muscle stepped in their path.

"You two are in Powder Ganger territory," he said as he looked them both over. "Pay the toll." It couldn't be hard to figure out how much trouble they were in based on how badly Isfet was leaning into Layla. The Fiend grumbled something under his breath, then tried to straighten up his posture.

"We were just robbed," Layla answered the gang member, "by Fiends. My friend is very hurt and I need to get him to a doctor."

The man didn't seem overly impressed. "Well I'm gonna need something." He stopped to give Isfet a little shove. "Before you can move on."

The Fiend nearly fell over, but managed to stay upright. Glaring at the Ganger, Isfet opened his mouth, seemed to think better of what he'd been about to say, then finally spoke. "Didn't you hear her? We got mugged; no caps."

The burly man glared at Isfet, then turned his attention back on Layla. "Well, if you ain't got any money, then we'll just have to get something else..."

Layla, who had already been getting angry that the man had nearly shoved Isfet off his feet, spoke up at that. "Don't start with that shit," she snapped. "We're moving on. Either you let us go without a fuss, or I jam my ripper down your throat and rearrange your tonsils." 

Her snarled words seemed to have an effect on the Powder Ganger; he stared at them, looking slightly startled. The courier didn't want to waste the shock, so she steered Isfet around the man and started for Goodsprings again.

After a few hurried paces with no reprisals, she let out a tense breath.

"You got a quick tongue there, huh girly?" Isfet said, voice sounding a little slurred. "Kinda woulda liked to see you go after 'em with a ripper though." He let out a malicious though weakened laugh.

Layla sighed. "I really can't do much of anything with a ripper. I don't even think I could get one started, let alone manage not to cut myself with it."

"Still woulda been cool to see," he muttered. 

The courier looked at Isfet and found that his face was coated in sweat and the color was all but gone from his skin. His expression twisted in pain as he stared off absently. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Me? I'm feeling absolutely ducky. Fit as a goddamn fiddle." He shook his head, then looked behind him. 

Layla turned her head as well to see what had caught his eye and only just registered movement as a fist collided with the Fiend's face. The blow knocked him away from Layla, and before she could react, someone slammed into her and took her off her feet.

"Real smooth talking there, gal!" she heard Isfet yell as the Powder Ganger who had knocked her over tried to pin her. She couldn't get to her gun, but she managed to pull her knife free and jab it into her attacker's arm. He let out a snarled cry, then ripped the knife away and tossed it out of reach. Layla struggled to get at her gun only to find it wasn't in her holster. She saw it a few feet away on the sand.

How that had even happened eluded her, but before she could make sense of it, the Ganger on her had been pushed off. Layla sat up in time to see him get stabbed in the back of the shoulder by Isfet. The ganger who'd attacked the Fiend was writhing on the ground further away. Isfet had a hazy but satisfied grin on his face.

Just as she was about to say something, she saw the first ganger who'd attacked Isfet back on his feet. In a flash, he pulled Isfet away from the downed man by the scarf around his neck before she could call out to warn him. Layla scrambled to her feet, but before she got far, a hand grabbed her pant leg and tripped her.

The twice-stabbed Ganger was crawling over her, murder in his eyes. Layla glanced over to Isfet, who wasn't fighting back as the other Ganger hit him repeatedly. She had to get to him, but the man who'd grabbed her was already halfway on top of her. 

Layla reached for her pocket, finding only a stimpak. She already knew she was going to hate what she was about to do. She grimaced, but didn't allow herself time to hesitate. Biting the cork off the syringe tip, the courier drove the needle into the eye of her attacker as hard as she was able to make herself.

There was a piercing scream, and Layla wiggled out from under the man before he could attempt to recover. Wincing as the screaming continued, Layla ran for Isfet, who was on the ground getting pummeled. She tackled the Ganger off him, trying to wrestle the man under her. The wall of a man quickly reversed their positions, however, and his hands went around her neck and squeezed.

Just as her airway was cut off, Layla heard something she didn't expect; Laughing. It was Isfet. He'd shouted something their way, but Layla hadn't been able to pick it up as a rushing in her ears blotted out all other sounds.

Great. Just great. Who would of thought helping a Fiend get medical attention was a bad idea? Layla's vision was starting to darken just as Isfet appeared in her line of sight behind the Powder Ganger strangling her. For a moment, she couldn't figure out what he was doing, but then he swung a knife down into the back of the man on top of her. 

It was hard to tell what the man's reaction was in her state, but a moment later her windpipe was mercifully free. Unable to really focus on what was going on around her, Layla turned to her side as she coughed and gasped for air.

After a few long moment of pulling air into her now very sore throat, Layla finally moved again. Rolling over, she saw Isfet in a heap a few feet away and the Ganger who had choked her unmoving in a pool of blood. Layla tiredly crawled over to Isfet as soon as she could get her aching limbs to move. The courier was surprised at the relief she felt when she found the Fiend was still breathing.

"Can you stand?" she rasped. The man cracked an eye open in her direction and let out a weird croaking bubble of a laugh.

"Kid, I barely could stand before. Now I doubt I could make it even if you dangled a Med-X in front of me." He shook his head weakly. "Well, maybe for a Med-X."

"Too close to give up now," Layla said after a fit of coughs. She got to her knees and slowly levered herself up. "Come on, we just need to get close enough for someone to hear us."

Getting Isfet on his feet proved to be more difficult than expected. The beating he'd taken had weaken him to the point of being unable to support himself. Layla wound up wedging herself under him and practically supported his full weight as they started for Goodsprings again.

The courier was trying very hard to focus on her task and not to think about how unlikely it was she could keep this up. Her rasping breath was getting labored as they went.

"Just... ah, a little further," she said for Isfet's sake. 

The Fiend had a sour look on his face, but wasn't directly complaining. "Real determined, ain't cha," he said, the slur in his voice worse now.

"I couldn't just leave you like that," Layla answered, nearly stumbling on her own feet.

"Couldn't leave me?" Isfet's voice seemed to find a little strength as his tone got nasty. "You're the reason I wound up like this!"

Layla, despite her focus on the task at hand, glowered. "I wouldn't have shot you if you hadn't been trying to rob me." She stumbled on her next step and had to adjust herself. "And threatened to kill me," she added.

The Fiend laughed, irritating the courier's already frayed nerves. "I wouldn't have been doing that if you hadn't been nosing around Fiend territory alone. Ever heard of Darwin? I was giving him a hand."

"Don't tempt me to let Darwin have you after I dump you in a gecko pit," Layla grumbled. She could see a familiar stretch of land ahead of them. Goodsprings wasn't far now. Maybe there was something to their bickering; Layla hadn't even noticed the distance they'd moved.

"HEY!" she cried, wincing when Isfet started at the sudden noise. "HELP! I've got a sick man!" 

It took a few more shouts which tore painfully at Layla's already damaged throat, but she saw someone from town start running their way. She nearly wilted with relief.

****

*.*.*

Doc Mitchell released the Fiend a day later, but only after his fever had broken and he'd been rehydrated. Well, more like he'd allowed the man to flee; Isfet hadn't been particularly happy about being stuck in a town of people he didn't know. Layla had figured he would need another day to rest, if not more, but Isfet wasn't having it.

She stood on the top of a hill as the man faded from her view. The courier had watched him like a hawk, not completely trusting him to not try something with Mitchell or any of the other people in town. But Isfet had seemed more anxious and uncomfortable than violent. Either way, there was quite a bit of relief when he left, apparently for them both.

"So uh... why exactly did you rescue a Fiend?" Veronica asked as she stood next to her. The scribe had arrived right when she'd said she would. She'd also asked that question a few times already, even as she'd helped keep an eye on the Fiend.

Layla let out a sigh. "I don't know. I couldn't just leave him when he was practically helpless."

The scribe chuckled. "You softy." 

The courier gave her a sour look.


	12. A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arcade only just beings to wonder what he's gotten himself into

"All right," Layla said as she came to a stop on the street, "why don't you wait here a minute." She turned a mischievous grin in Arcade's direction. "I'm gonna go speak with this King guy. I figure I'll try going in cold. Everyone likes Followers, but some people get weird around doctors."

Arcade frowned. "Well, it's not nice leaving a good-looking guy like me unescorted."

Layla let out a laugh. "Sit tight. I'll be right back." The girl walked into the building, leaving Arcade alone in the middle of Freeside. He looked around and saw a few junkies shuffling around the dark street. Perfect.

There weren't any Kings around at the moment. There was a small relief, anyway. The gang members did tend to act oddly around him, Layla was right about that. Like he personally knew every medical embarrassment each King ever had suffered. He didn't know all of them.

Staying out here waiting wasn't a bad idea, but Arcade felt a nagging worry start to surface. The Kings were usually pretty decent, but not always to NCR citizens. And while Layla didn't start conversations by announcing she was from California, she didn't exactly hide the fact. Never mind that she spent a lot of time with Boone. That red beret might as well just scream 'The Bear Is Coming.'

He looked at the King's building door again, frowning. He shouldn't go in... right? What if the King knew about her NCR background and got violent? Word was that he was a lot more lenient on women, particularly attractive ones. Arcade figured Layla probably wasn't getting the pulp beaten out of her, but even still...

His thoughts were interrupted by one of the low-level Kings walking out of the front door of the building. He didn't even have the coat yet. The man gave Arcade a casual look as he leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette. After a moment and a few puffs, he spoke up. "That your girl who just wandered in?"

Arcade felt his lip curl into a frown. "She's not 'my girl,' but why do you ask?"

The King, who looked like he was in his mid-twenties, just about the same age as the courier, shrugged. "Dunno. Wouldn't let a girl like that wandering around alone."

"What does that mean?" Arcade asked, not liking the sound of that.

"Well, she's making quite an impression on the King, that's for sure."

Arcade really didn't like how that sounded, vague as it was. He was about to go for the door when it opened and Layla walked out with a grin on her face.

"We've got a job! Time to hire a bodyguard." She winked at the King at the door who gave her a waggle of his eyebrow and went back to his cigarette.

"Why exactly are we getting a bodyguard?" Arcade asked, thoroughly off-guard at both her sudden appearance and the odd statement.

"We're going undercover." She wiggled her fingers up at him, face full of mischief. "Come on, we need to figure out our back story."

"Oh I don't like the sound of that," the doctor grumbled as they started down the street.


	13. Betwitched, Bothered & Bewildered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attempts to raise money to enter the Strip in Freeside, or the world debut of FISTO

"Two thousand caps to get into the Strip?" Veronica sputtered. "And we've only got half?" She shook her head while Layla shrugged.

"How did House expect you to make your delivery if you didn't have the money?" Arcade asked, glancing up at the Lucky 38, which towered over them from behind the gate.

"I had a specific timetable to get there with the package," the courier said, hand going up to scratch at her head. She'd been confident enough to take the bandana off now that her hair had grown enough so she could just style it over the ugly patch her bullet wounds left.

Veronica let out a loud groan and crossed her arms over her chest. The dour look dropped from her face only a moment later, and she grinned mischievously. "We should look around Freeside. You know, find some odd jobs, bat our eyelashes at wealthy brahmin barons, that kind of thing."

"We should split up," Layla chimed in, pleased at the idea. "We can do more damage that way." Veronica nodded, but the courier noticed both Arcade and Boone didn't seem to share their enthusiasm.

"You're not going alone," Boone spoke up. 

"Freesides isn't the place to go knocking on every door," Arcade added.

"Fine fine fine," Veronica said, waving her hand dismissively. "Two teams then. So who goes with who?" The girls both turned to their male companions, looking carefully at the pair.

"Why do I feel like a brahmin at auction?" the doctor grumbled. Boone's mouth twitched into a slight smirk, but he didn't reply. 

Veronica, who'd been looking from one man to the other and back, suddenly snapped her finger. "All right, Layla, you go with Boone. I'll take beanpole."

"And how did you decide that?" Arcade asked, tone suggesting he hadn't cared for the beanpole part.

"Easy. If we get into trouble, I'll punch it out of existence," the scribe said matter-of-factly. "No offense, but you're not exactly combat material." Layla cleared her throat loudly at that.

"Show her," she spoke up, then waved her hand impatiently when the doctor looked like was going to object. With a great sigh, Arcade moved the long flap of his lab coat aside. On his belt were two weapons, an impressive-looking plasma pistol and a ripper. 

Veronica's mouth dropped. "What the hell, man? Where did you get those?"

"The same place you got that powerfist."

"You're Brotherhood of Steel?!" Veronica squawked incredulously.

"What?! No! I mean the wasteland. You know, scavenging. You're Brotherhood of Steel?!" He looked at Layla as if expecting her to be as shocked as he was.

"Yeah, she told us when we picked her up."

Arcade stared at her, then his eyebrows shot up as he snapped his head to Boone. The sniper merely shrugged, though his mouth had curled into a tiny sneer.

"Oookay, so I guess we don't care about that." 

"Right," Layla said. "Just uh, keep quiet about it."

"More quiet than I am," Veronica piped up. "ANYWAY, like I was saying, we'll team up."

"You're not going to take my pistol, are you?" Arcade spoke up. The suspicion in his tone didn't sound completely joking in nature.

"Not unless you make me."

"Kids!" Layla cried. "Calm down. You know, I think this whole you two on a team thing is a good idea. It'll give you a chance to get to know each other."

Arcade turned a sour look her way. "You just want Boone to carry things for you."

"That's true," Layla answered, not sounding particularly sheepish in her admittance. "But I also want you guys to get along. Now go get along while making us some money."

Arcade glanced at Veronica, who grinned back at him. "Fine."

****

*.*.*

"Oh wouldn't my parents be so proud of me now," Arcade said as he and Veronica left the Atomic Wrangler. Veronica, however, looked quite pleased with herself.

"Aw come on, easy money and we're helping the community."

"I'm not sure finding new prostitutes for the local dive bar is exactly a benefit to Freeside," the doctor groaned. 

"Oh you complain too much," Veronica said airily. She looked down the road, thinking a moment before she spoke again. "Now where are we going to find a ghoul cowboy?"

The doctor was about to object again. Then he frowned. Then he took a moment to wonder how it had come to this. Then he spoke.

"I know one."

Veronica's head turned in his direction as a grin spread across her face.

****

*.*.*

"All right," Layla said, squaring her shoulders. "Let me do all the talking."

Boone merely stared her a moment, but the girl started towards their target instead of looking his way. He followed along, not wanting the girl to get too far. They were going to attempt collecting debts for the Garret twins, and the sniper had a bad feeling it wouldn't go well.

Their first target hadn't been very hard to find; the fairly well-dressed man had stuck out among Freeside's residents. Layla glanced up to Boone questioningly, and he nodded. He was ready for whatever trouble this would cause.

Santiago saw them approach and plastered a greasy smile across his face, clearly focusing on Layla. 

"Why hello, my dear. What can Santiago do for you?"

The shifty salesman tone didn't seem to work on Layla, who crossed her arms over her chest. "Stow it, Romeo, we're collecting for the Garrets."

At the mention of the twin casino owners, Santiago paled a bit. He recovered quickly enough, however. "Why would such a beautiful woman have to concern herself with such mundane things? My dear, Santiago could make you forget the harshness of this cruel world." He reached out to take Layla's hand.

"Hands off," Boone barked. The sniper didn't trust a stranger when debts were involved. 

Santiago backed up a step, but hadn't dropped his smile. "My apologies. I meant no harm to your lady love."

"What?" Layla squawked. "No no, we're not... No." She looked embarrassed as she shook her head. "Listen, just give us the damn caps. The Garrets said if we weren't able to get them, they'd be putting a bounty out on you. Not the sit down and talk kind."

Now Santiago's smile flew off his face. The whole calm exterior crumble as he started digging in his pockets. "I never thought they'd send someone out to kill me." He dumped a few handfuls of caps into Layla's hands. 

Layla eyeballed the amount in her hands, clearly trying to do a quick count. Santiago looked like he was going to faint, but waited. A moment later, the courier nodded at the man, who turned and took off without another word.

Once he was gone, Layla pocketed the caps and let out a breath. She looked up at the sniper, a little red still on her cheeks.

"Awkward. Let's move on."

The sniper nodded.

****

*.*.*

"You'll be helping other people feel better. You know, stress relief and moral boosts and that crap," Veronica said, giving Old Ben a earnest look. A fake one, if Arcade had to guess.

The older man seemed to think over what she'd said, then nodded. "I never thought about how it could help people." He grinned, which made the crow's feet around his eyes crease handsomely. "All right, you win. I'll work for the Garrets."

"Great!" Veronica cheered. "They're waiting for you. Go see James."

"Come by if you want to see how I'm contributing," the man said, giving both of them a wink. He started off for the Atomic Wrangler, a swagger in his step.

Arcade shook his head. "He's going to make them a lot of money."

"Hell yeah," Veronica said with a nod. 

She turned her head Arcade's way, so he let the grimace he'd been holding back surface. "This really is revolting, you know. The amount they're paying us even isn't that great."

"Well unless you plan on taking Old Ben's place, this is the best we can do. Besides, it's not like we're putting slave collars on them. All consenting adults." Veronica chewed at her thumbnail a moment. "And we have to be making more money than Boone and Layla. Those two probably wandered off to rescue lost dogs and save orphanages."

Arcade couldn't help but nod at that. "Still, We could be doing something better than this."

"Ah, can it. We're doing great. Now we just need to find a sexbot."

****

*.*.*

"Do you have any caps to spare?" Grecks asked as Layla and Boone approached him. Layla felt her stomach twist. They had come to collect the ghoul's debt, and he was begging for money.

"We're collecting for the..." she started half-heartedly, but trailed off at the horrified expression that appeared on the ghoul's face.

"Oh god, it's the Garrets, isn't it?" He started digging in his pockets until he found just a few caps. "I didn't think they'd send people after me!" He tried to shove the money into Layla's hands, but she stopped him.

"No, forget it," she shook her head. "Just... You either need to figure out a way to pay them or move on. They were talking about looking into a real bounty hunter if we didn't get the money."

Grecks still looked horrified, but nodded at her. Layla turned and started away, not wanting to upset the man further with their presence.

After a they were a block away, she glanced up at Boone, who was looking back at her. His face was neutral, but he clearly was waiting for her to say something.

"We're done with this mess," she sighed. "I'm not taking money from desperate people." Boone nodded, though it was hard to tell how he felt about her decision.

"The Garrets aren't going to be happy about it," he said after a few quiet moments as they walked for the Atomic Wrangler.

"Francine can stuff it. We'll give her what we got from Santiago and leave it at that. If she doesn't like it, she can kiss my ass."

****

*.*.*

For once, Veronica had nothing to say. Neither did Arcade, for that matter. But that didn't stop the protectron standing before them.

"Assume the position!" barked the recently reprogrammed and renamed FISTO. They both continued staring until Veronica elbowed Arcade in the ribs.

"Well... go on and try it out."

"What?! This was your idea. You try it." Neither of them moved as they stared at the robot, who waited patiently for them to do as it said.

After finally explaining to the thing that they were taking it to its new home, they emerged from the abandoned robotics factory. Arcade peeked around the corner of the building. Once he determined it was clear, he motioned for Veronica and FISTO to follow.

"Why are you being sneaky?" the scribe asked. She had to stop herself from laughing when he pressed himself to the wall of the next building before they turned the corner.

"Because unlike you, I have no desire to be seen with a sexbot," the doctor said, sounding quite annoyed.

Veronica couldn't hold it in at that and started laughing. "Don't want your sparkling reputation tarnished by a robot tryst?"

Arcade's head snapped towards her with a fresh glare. Distracted, he nearly crashed directly into Layla as she and Boone approached them. He looked like he was going to be ill when Layla took a clear interest in FISTO.

"Heeeeeey, neat! What's with the robot?"

Arcade waved his hands in front of the protectron, trying to keep her away. "Nothing! Just getting it to its new owner!"

"Assume the position!" FISTO burst out, having registered a potential new customer. The courier's eyes widened at the robot and its rotating wrist attachments. She took an obvious step back, and both she and Boone turned very concerned looks Arcade's way.

"No no no! It's not what you think!" the doctor cried.

"Oh don't be a prude," chimed in Veronica. "It's just a sexbot." Arcade just stared at her in horror.


	14. Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whether or not a gun makes a good alarm clock

Deep sleep was good. Boone had needed it. There had been too many sleepless days for him. There had been some obvious reasons causing them before, but some weren't so apparent. He was a morning person. The man had never really acclimated to working the night shift. He could do it, he could function, but sleep came easier at night in the dark for him.

Now that his schedule had changed since traveling with Layla, he was sleeping at night again, and deeply. But as good as that all was, there were negatives, like frequently waking up disoriented.

He was in a large tent he didn't remember, on a cot. Shaking his head hadn't removed the confusion, so he looked at his side for...

No, no that wouldn't be right. With a sigh he finally remembered; he was in a Followers tent. Arcade's boss had agreed to let them stay in Old Mormon Fort, so long as they didn't need the beds for patients.

Even with that thought, he looked down to see a ghoul was lying on the cot next to him. Still confused, the thought of a stranger right next to him while he slept put him on edge. When he saw Layla's pillow under the ghoul's head, he saw red. Before there was time to think things over, he'd grabbed the pistol from under the pillow he'd slept on last night and jumped off his cot.

Without any warning, he grabbed the ghoul's arm and turned him quickly. Boone nearly jumped when he saw that the other man was not only awake, but was also pointing a revolver up at him.

"Just back up slowly, buddy, " the ghoul said. His voice wasn't as gravely as most ghouls he knew, and there was an accent Boone wasn't sure of. He also still had a mustache on his lip, though no hair on his head. Boone glanced down to the nametag "Miguel" on the man's jumpsuit. The ghoul slowly started rising from the cot, gun still pointed at the sniper. 

Boone had been about to try and diffuse the situation, but he saw Layla's pillow flop on the ground. He turned a snarl up at the ghoul. "Where is sh-" 

He was interrupted when Layla pulled the tent's flap back with a flourish. "Good morning bo-WOAH!" She cried out once she saw both men pointing guns at each other. Without hesitation, she stepped between them. Boone lowered his gun immediately, and he noticed the ghoul did as well.

The whole situation was still confusing. Boone watched Layla turn towards the ghoul with a grin, putting her hands on her hips. "I expect this kind of thing out of Boone, but you Raul? Tsk." 

The ghoul holstered his gun and shook his head. "Sorry boss. I've had better alarm clocks than a gun in the face."

That had Layla turning Boone's way. The questioning look on her face faded as soon as she saw his irritation. It didn't last though, and he starting to feel awkward about the whole thing.

"He had your pillow," was all he managed as explanation.

Layla smiled a bit, but the expression turned to something more apologetic. "Well this is all my fault." She nodded to the ghoul. "Boone, this is Raul. He's the one I told you about from Black Mountain, remember? Well he managed to find us here and returned ED-E."

"Who?" Boone asked, not remembering that name.

"Her flying radio," Raul spoke up. "Pretty helpful for a murderous robot."

"I told you he would be," Layla said with a smug grin, then looked back at Boone. "ED-E's how I managed to get through all those Powder Gangers."

The sniper was still trying to catch up with all this new information. Layla's apologetic look was back as she glanced at them both.

"I'm sorry guys, I should have let you both know about each other before sending you off to sleep in the same tent. You can be mad at me, but you're not allowed to be mad at each other. So shake and make up."

Boone knew he hadn't been able to stop the frown that flashed onto his face, but the ghoul had already walked up with his hand out. "I tend to make better friends with people who've tried to kill me at least once anyway," Raul said, a thin grin pulling at his mouth.

There was a moment's hesitation, then Boone took the ghoul's hand and shook. "Sorry about sticking a gun in your face."

"It's fine," Raul answered. "Turns out it's a pretty good alarm clock after all."

Layla was smiling at them, but once she saw Boone's eyes turn to her, the sheepish look was back. Raul had since picked up her pillow and shook the dirt off before handing it to the courier.

"I let him borrow it last night," she explained, turning it over in her hands. "I'm sorry."

There was another sigh as Boone felt the irritation finally leave for good. "It's okay. No casualties." That awkward feeling was back, and he shifted on his feet. "Is there anything to eat?"

Layla beamed at him once it was clear she was forgiven. "I'm sure I can rustle something up." She took a step back to the tent flap. "You boys play nice now." 

And with that, she left. Boone noticed Raul looking him over, then the ghoul grinned. 

"She's got your number, huh?"

Boone had been prepared to give the ghoul a chance, but at that he scowled and stalked out of the tent. He heard a raspy laugh follow him out.


	15. It's Foolish But It's Fun

"Why don't we just take the few caps we've got left and just give them to the Garrets?" Arcade grumbled. He was not happy with the courier, and it seemed that Layla hadn't been prepared for how irritated the doctor sounded.

"Well nothing else has worked very well," the courier said, sounding a bit defensive. She kicked at a rock on the floor of the tent. "It's not like we're taking the money and putting it all on black," she continued.

Arcade didn't look particularly convinced. Veronica had been about to speak up, but Layla continued.

"We'll only be gone a little while, and we're only taking a hundred caps."

"One hundred caps?" the doctor was starting to turn red. 

"Calm down!" Layla cried. "You're going to give yourself hives."

The doctor threw his hands up and clearly gave up on the conversation. As he turned off to go back to his book, Layla faced the others.

"All right, who's coming with me?"

"No thanks," Veronica answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm about done with that place." 

"I'll go, boss," Raul cut in before anyone else could speak. "This ought to be good." Veronica hadn't decided how she felt about the ghoul yet. But since he'd gone to the trouble of bringing back the courier's robot, he couldn't be all bad.

"The Garrets aren't happy with us," Boone added. "Maybe not a good idea to go back to them."

Layla waved off his concerns. "Aw, we got them some caps. Besides, with Arcade and Veronica getting them their new harem, we're in their good books." Before any other suggestions or warnings could be made, Layla had already jumped off her cot, hooked an arm in Raul's, and started heading out.

"You kids be good. ED-E's in charge."

As they left, the eyebot let out a smug-sounding trill of beeps. Veronica threw a pillow at it.

****

*.*.*

"I've got to tell you, I've been in some decrepit places before - and this is coming from a ghoul - but this is a shithole," Raul murmured, not particularly quietly, as he and Layla made their way towards a blackjack table.

"You're a whiny date, you know that?" the girl responded as she plopped down on a stool. Raul chuckled as he sat next to her.

"It's a good thing I'm also a cheap date. A hundred caps isn't going to last us very long." 

The courier didn't respond right away, and Raul looked over to see her staring at a woman who walked by. At first the ghoul thought she was checking the woman out, but he noticed her eyes trailing the fabric more than the wearer.

"Where do you think she found that?" Layla asked in a murmur. 

"I hear everyone's dressed like that on the Strip," Raul said with a shrug. A frown spread over Layla's face as she looked down at her leather armor. It was a lot better than what he'd seen her wearing when they first met, but it wasn't a cocktail dress, either.

Shaking her head, Layla seemed to remember where she was. "Anyway, don't worry about running out of caps so soon. I brought four hundred."

"Damn boss, Arcade is going to have a meltdown if we lose all this." Raul shook his head.

"Oh ye of little faith," the girl responded, pushing a stack of chips in front of the ghoul. He shrugged and accepted them.

****

*.*.*

"Isn't that the punk who backed out of shaking people down for you?"

Francine Garret swung around, looking in the direction one of her bouncers pointed. It was indeed the girl who'd been all holier-than-thou about the money they were owed. The one who had the nerve to talk her into letting Grecks out of his debt. Only now she was missing her scowling bodyguard.

"Aw, leave her alone. She's not so bad," James spoke up. "She and her group got us the new employees." 

Francine scowled at her brother, who didn't notice as he gazed serenely at the robot standing across the room. She shook her head; if James ran the place, he'd have gotten them closed down years ago. All the hard work came to Francine, and part of that was having a good face for the residents. Others had heard about the debt collectors.

And she wouldn't lie; she just didn't like the girl. Francine glanced at the bouncer who'd pointed her out. "If she wins anything, kick her out." Her grin turned mean. "Be careful; it'd be such a shame if something happened to her pretty face."

The bouncer cracked his knuckles in acknowledgement, then wandered out to the casino floor.

****

*.*.*

Another win for Layla. Raul watched in amazement as another stack of chips were pushed her way. The ghoul had already lost his share and the extra Layla had given him. Now he was just watching her and the small crowd who'd gathered around.

At first, that had been to make sure no one tried to make off with any of her chips as she concentrated on her cards, but he'd noticed the management looking their way. Boone had mentioned the owners weren't happy with the courier.

Layla won again and let out a loud whoop in celebration. Raul watched two of the bouncers look at each other, then at the woman behind the counter, who nodded. That was trouble.

****

*.*.*

Layla nearly had to stop herself from giggling. She'd already won enough to get them onto the Strip. A little more and maybe she'd be able to find one of those cocktail dresses...

But on that thought, she lost a hand. Maybe leaving things like they were wasn't a bad idea. If she gave the casino the money back instead of stopping, she'd probably let Arcade strangle her.

Raul nudged her, breaking her from her thoughts. "Are we almost done, boss?" His tone was weirdly anxious, and he nodded towards the front of the building, where Francine Garret was definitely shooting eye lasers back at her.

A burst of stubbornness overtook her, and she looked down at her pile of chips. "One more hand," she said to the ghoul, who gave her a resigned nod.

She bet another hundred and wound up with a sixteen. The dealer had a queen looking her way. She looked at the hundred chip bet and grinned. "I'm going to double down."

The dealer merely shrugged at her incredibly bad move, but accepted. Her next card was a five of hearts, and Layla couldn't help the cheer she let out. She heard a groan from one of the other people at the table.

"Time to go," Raul spoke up as the dealer passed over the courier's chips. "The locals are getting restless." Layla nodded, tipped the dealer, and stood. She barely managed to gather her chips up before Raul was rushing her to the cashier. 

Despite knowing it was good to be quick, Layla refused to look worried or sheepish as they went. Francine Garret could deal with it. Though, when they found the exit blocked by two bouncers, it looked like the woman had, in fact, dealt with it.

"'Scuze me, boys," Layla said, flashing her prettiest smile. "I have to get my date home by curfew. You know how parents are." She linked her arm in Raul's, still grinning. The bouncers didn't seem amused, and Layla noticed that two more had come up from behind.

The arm she was holding onto shifted just slightly, and the courier notice Raul casually drop his other hand down to his gun.

Layla felt her own muscles start to tense, but before the tension was broken with gunshots like she expected, the goons in front of them lurched forward as two Kings tried to push their way through the door.

"What the hell?" one cried. "Open up!"

That had to be their best chance, so Layla grabbed Raul's hand and barreled through the bouncers while they were distracted. She felt a hand on her shoulder, but the Kings had pushed further into the building. The hand grabbing her was suddenly gone, and Layla took off in a run with Raul in tow.

By the time they got back to Old Mormon Fort, Layla was practically wheezing with laughter. 

"No more dates, boss," Raul said, leaning over a few of the sandbags at the entrance of the fort, trying to regain his breath. "You like it too rough for me."

The courier had calmed down by now, and shook her head with a grin. "Oh, we're going on more dates. You're my lucky charm. Aaaaaaand," she pulled out her new bag of caps. "I'll be needing your services when we get on the Strip."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I had hoped to keep updating regularly, but I've had bad medical news in my family and I have to prioritize my time a bit more. I do hope to continue, but I'm not going to push myself. So that means updates won't be regular. Thanks for reading


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